Life lessons from the smartphone sector

 

 

A life lesson for you kids today, brought to you by Intel.

 

Way back in the day before the smartphone ( I know it’s hard to think about, but it wasn’t that long ago), Apple offered Intel the opportunity to put their chips inside the first, as of yet unreleased, smartphone. The iPhone.

 

Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel at the time, said no. No thank you. His reasons were financial, predictive, and perfectly reasonable.

 

Apple moved on and offered the opportunity to Intel’s competitor, ARM, who are now market dominant -in 2010 they had 95% share in the smartphone market.

 

Oops.

 

In an interview with The Atlantic, this is what Mr. Otellini had to say about his decision to say no:

 

“The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I’ve ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut. My gut told me to say yes.”

 

A life lesson for us all! Thanks, Paul!

 

Paul retired from his position as CEO of Intel yesterday after 8 years in the role, and 39 years in the company.

 

 

Image courtesy of Techpinions.com