<p>In an interview with Bloomberg Steve Ballmer, an ex-CEO of Microsoft said that his decision of pushing Microsoft into the mobile device business was the reason for relationship breakdown with his friend and co-founder Bill Gates. Ballmer also said that he regrets of not pushing this project years earlier.</p>
<p>When he finally tried to push Microsoft in the mobile market his idea was refused by Bill Gates and other members of the management board.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;It was definitely not a simple thing for either one of us,&#8221; he said. There was a &#8220;little bit of a difference in opinion on the strategic direction of the company. &#8220;There was a fundamental disagreement about how important it was to be in the hardware business,&#8221; Ballmer said. &#8220;I had pushed Surface. The board had been a little — little reluctant in supporting it. And then things came to a climax around what to do about the phone business.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Microsoft management board initially turned down Ballmer&#8217;s decision to acquire Nokia mobile devices. When the $9.5 billion worth deal was closed, scattered Nokia was handed to Satya Nadella but it was already too late to enter the mobile market.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I would have moved into the hardware business faster and recognized that what we had in the PC, where there was a separation of chips, systems and software, wasn&#8217;t largely gonna reproduce itself in the mobile world&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Ballmer also said that iPhone will not sell because of its high price, but Apple found a way to reach their customers with mobile carrier subsidies.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;I wish I&#8217;d thought about the model of subsidizing phones through the operators,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You know, people like to point to this quote where I said iPhones will never sell, because the price at $600 or $700 was too high. And there was business model innovation by Apple to get it essentially built into the monthly cell phone bill.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>It seems impossible now for Microsoft Windows Phone to come even close to Apple&#8217;s iPhone and Google&#8217;s Android mobile devices success. On the other hand, according to Satya Nadella&#8217;s hint, Microsoft appears to be working on a new next generation smartphone called &#8220;Surface Phone&#8221;. It is yet to be seen if the Surface Phone, once released, could threaten Apple&#8217;s iPhone and Google&#8217;s Android-powered devices huge market share.</p>

Steve Ballmer on Windows smartphones
July 30, 2009. Robert Sorbo/Microsoft/Handout