Bill Gates says his preference for Android over iPhone is due to preinstalled software

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates took part this week in his first meeting at Clubhouse, the increasingly popular, invitation-only chat app, where he posed several questions as part of a book tour on course.

Gates was interviewed by journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, and given that the Clubhouse app is currently only available on iOS, it’s natural that one of the questions raised was whether Gates regularly uses an iPhone and whether he prefers iOS to Android .

“I actually use an Android phone,” Gates said. “Because I want to keep track of everything, I’ll often play with iPhones, but what I carry is Android.”

“So Android vs. Apple: Is That A Religious Thing?” Sorkin asked.

“Some of the Android makers pre-install Microsoft software in a way that makes it easy for me,” Gates replied. “They’re more flexible about how the software connects to the operating system. That’s why I’ve ended up getting used to it. You know, a lot of my friends have ‘iPhones’, so there’s no purity.”

Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison, who was also briefly in the room, told Gates and Sorkin that an Android version of the app is the “main feature” they’re currently working on and that makes them more illusion.

In a 2019 interview, Gates admitted that Microsoft’s loss of Android as a non-Apple standard phone platform was “one of the biggest mistakes of all time” for the Redmond-based company.

Because of Gates, it was Steve Ballmer who served as CEO of Microsoft between 2000 and 2014. Ballmer laughed infamously at the “iPhone,” but Apple had the last laugh, as Windows Phone didn’t never achieved any significant market share among mobile operating systems and was eventually abandoned.

During the Clubhouse meeting, Gates admitted that he had an awkward relationship with Steve Jobs, but described Apple’s former CEO as “unique.” Other topics raised in Wednesday’s online debate included the global health crisis, climate change and Gates’ new book, “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.” The full interview is available on YouTube.