There was no reason to slow down. Microsoft was deeply aware of the opportunity in mobile, long before iOS and Android scooped up that market. But Ballmer and

There was no reason to slow down. Microsoft was deeply aware of the opportunity in mobile, long before iOS and Android scooped up that market. But Ballmer and a "Windows everywhere" mentality held them back, with several massive failures and right offs on the orders of billions of dollars. There was nothing natural about Microsoft's slow down in the OS market while the computing industry was going through profound form factor and OS changes, and rocketing sales, for a decade or so.