Neither of us have anything to complain about. It’s been fun to work together, said the Microsoft chairman, who even called Jobs magical in the way he does things.
[Microsoft] learned how to partner with people really well, and I think if Apple could have had a little more of that in its DNA, it would have served it extremely well, said the Apple chief executive.Speaking together on stage in their first joint interview, at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, California, they chatted briefly and benignly about next year’s US elections. But mostly they reminisced about their roles in pioneering the computing industry, starting in 1975.
They also looked forward and, as predicted, Jobs took the opportunity to talk up Apple’s forthcoming iPhone while Gates espoused the tablet form factor, which has now morphed into the ultra-mobile PC category currently being pushed by Microsoft. Gates also went on about the digital home, as expected.
While they both discussed the future of so-called post PC devices, such as the iPod from Apple and the Zune from Microsoft, neither said they believed the PC era would end in the near future. The PC has proven to be very resilient, Jobs said.
Gates also said Microsoft would participate in search hopefully to a higher degree in the future than at present. Jobs, on the other hand, said Apple would partner with companies on search and other technologies at the back-end of devices.
Neither Jobs nor Gates slung mud, however. When asked about the greatest misunderstanding in their relationship, Jobs joked, We’ve kept our marriage secret for over a decade now.
And when an interviewer brought up Apple’s TV ad campaign, which has a hip-looking slim guy representing a Mac while a tubby, dorky-looking man in a suit represents a PC, Jobs was almost apologetic.
The art of those commercials is not to be mean, but it’s actually for the guys to like each other, he said.
