Bill Gates Says His Preference for Android Over iPhone is Due to Pre-Installed Software

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates this week participated in his first meeting on Clubhouse, the increasingly popular invite-only conversation app, where he fielded a range of questions as part of an ongoing book tour.

microsoft edge ios android
Gates was interviewed by journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, and given that the Clubhouse app is currently only available on iOS, naturally one of the questions that came up was whether Gates regularly uses an iPhone and if he prefers iOS over Android.

"I actually use an Android phone," Gates said. "Because I want to keep track of everything, I'll often play around with iPhones, but the one I carry around happens to be Android."

"So Android vs Apple – is this a religious thing?" asked Sorkin.

"Some of the Android manufacturers pre-install Microsoft software in a way that makes it easy for me," Gates replied. "They're more flexible about how the software connects up with the operating system. So that's what I ended up getting used to. You know, a lot of my friends have iPhone, so there's no purity."

Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison, who was also in the room briefly, told Gates and Sorkin that an Android version of the app is the "top feature" that they're currently working towards and are most excited about.

In a 2019 interview, Gates admitted that Microsoft losing to Android as the standard non-Apple phone platform was "one of one of the greatest mistakes of all time" for the Redmond-based company.

In fairness to Gates, it was Steve Ballmer who served as Microsoft's CEO between 2000 and 2014. Ballmer infamously laughed off the ‌iPhone‌, but Apple had the last laugh, as Windows Phone failed to ever gain any significant market share among mobile operating systems and was ultimately abandoned.

During the Clubhouse meeting, Gates admitted he had an uneasy relationship with Steve Jobs, but called the former Apple CEO "unique." Other topics that came up in Wednesday's online discussion included the global health crisis, climate change, and Gates' new book "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." The full interview is available on YouTube.

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Top Rated Comments

ProfessionalFan Avatar
60 months ago
Better question is why would anyone care what Bill Gates' preference is?
Score: 99 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
60 months ago
doesn't even make sense.


* Set Bing as default search engine? - no problem
* Make Outlook default e-mail app? - no problem
* Make mobile edge (is that a thing?) default browser? - no problem
* Integrate one drive? - no problem

I would say the Office Apps are also far better optimised and integrated on iOS than Android.

Clearly he is just too lazy or hasn't used an iPhone much
Score: 71 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mc0 Avatar
60 months ago
Or maybe he’s reached the age where he doesn’t care anymore. He just use whatever works for him.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BootLoxes Avatar
60 months ago
"Gates said. "Because I want to keep track of everything"

?
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seanm87 Avatar
60 months ago
I mean, is anyone really surprised?
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
insomniac86 Avatar
60 months ago
I would have thought it would have been quicker and easier to install the Microsoft apps & services you need on an iPhone over uninstalling all the bloatware/crapware that comes preinstalled on many Androids.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)