US: Bill Gates blames antitrust case for Android beating Windows Mobile

On Wednesday, November 6, Bill Gates suggested that Windows could have been the world’s dominant mobile operating system had it not been for the antitrust case the US Justice Department (DOJ) brought against Microsoft.

Speaking at the DealBook Conference hosted by The New York Times (via The Verge), Gates was asked about the impact of the DOJ’s antitrust case. He came out swinging against how harmful the investigation was and exclaimed how, “We were so close.”

“There’s no doubt that the antitrust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft. We would have been more focused on creating the phone operating system and so instead of using Android today you would be using Windows Mobile if it hadn’t been for the antitrust case.”

Gates’ comments suggest that major antitrust cases against today’s other large technology companies could have negative market implications.

In the third quarter Facebook became the subject of antitrust investigations and inquiries from the US House of Representatives, state attorneys general and the DOJ, and Alphabet started receiving civil demands from the DOJ regarding earlier antitrust investigations. The Supreme Court earlier this year said Apple iPhone users could bring an antitrust case against Apple regarding App Store commissions, and in July the European Union was reported to be beginning an antitrust investigation into Amazon.

“Oh, we were so close,” Gates said about the company’s miss in mobile operating systems. “I was just too distracted. I screwed that up because of the distraction.” He said the company was three months too late with a release Motorola would have used on a phone.

Full Content: The Verge

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