By Tim Collins For Mailonline
Published: 12:33 BST, 24 June 2019 | Updated: 12:37 BST, 24 June 2019
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He may be one of the most successful technology CEOs in history but even Bill Gates has regrets about the way he has managed his firm.
The Microsoft founder has spoken out about his anguish over not inventing Android as a rival operating system (OS) to Apple's iOS.
Gates, who is currently worth $102.9 billion (£80.7bn), says Microsoft has lost out on $400 billion (£314bn) in revenue thanks to its lack of success in this area.
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He may be one of the most successful technology CEOs in history but even Bill Gates has regrets about the way he has managed his firm. The Microsoft founder has spoken out about his anguish over not inventing Android as a rival operating system to Apple's iOS (file photo)
Windows Phone was launched in October 2010 and succeeded by Windows 10 mobile in 2015.
Microsoft started gutting its phone business in 2016,.
In 2017, Microsoft announced that work on Windows 10 Mobile was drawing to a close due to lack of market penetration and dearth of interest from app developers.
It will officially stop supporting Windows 10 Mobile, previously referred to as Windows Phones, starting December 10th, 2019.
Gates made the comments at an event in San Francisco hosted by Village Global, a venture capital firm based in Walnut, California.
There he discussed with Eventbrite cofounder and CEO Julia Hartz the difficult decisions taken by entrepreneurs to create and build a successful business.
'You know, in the software world, in particular for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets,' he said.
'The greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is.
'Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win.
'There’s room for exactly one non-Apple operating system, and what’s