Apple co-founder Steve Jobs likened Microsoft to fast-food giant McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) during a 1995 interview for PBS’s Triumph of the Nerds documentary series.

“I know Bill (Gates) would get upset at me for saying this, but of course it was true,” said Jobs.

The Apple co-founder praised Microsoft’s business success, calling it “well deserved”, but criticized the company for lacking originality and prioritizing business over user experience, calling its products “very pedestrian” and saying it had no “spirit.”

“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way,” Jobs said.

He highlighted how Microsoft took a “big gamble” by writing application software for Macintosh, despite not being in that area of business until 1984. Jobs further stated that Bill Gates’ company wrote applications that were “terrible.” However, the Apple co-founder lauded the company for not giving up, improving on their work, and eventually dominating the Macintosh application market.

However, Gates, just like Jobs, downplayed a particular Apple product. In 2010, he said the newly launched iPad was a good e-reader but believed devices combining touch, voice, a pen, and a physical keyboard would become mainstream.

Despite Gates’ skepticism, the iPad became a major success. Apple sold more than 300,000 units on launch day, surpassed 10 million sales within its first year, and exceeded 100 million units sold by late 2012.

This prompted Microsoft to launch the Surface lineup in 2012 after its earlier Tablet PC efforts had failed commercially. Today, the Surface Pro has established itself as a strong competitor in the tablet market.

As of Apple’s latest earnings, iPad sales brought in revenue of about $6.2 billion out of the total quarterly revenue of $109.42 billion.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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