Microsoft and Apple were friends about 50 years ago. The friendship of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs can be said to be ideal because both of them used to spend their evenings together and work on new ideas.
At that time, both of these companies were limited to the limits of the garage. The journey of development of both of them began and both of them left the garage and reached the corporate offices.
At that time, Apple was trying to make personal computers and Jobs thought that if this happened, he would revolutionize the world. Jobs’s idea was not wrong.
At that time, Microsoft used to develop different software for its clients and Bill Gates had succeeded in creating such software that could run successfully on different devices at that time.
At that time, Jobs had understood that the future of computers could not be to run software based on commands. This was not only boring work, but also had no particular future. Jobs believed that computer work should be interesting, that people should enjoy doing it and invest their time in it.
That is why Jobs was creating a software that would be a different world. It would not be based on commands only. It would have beautiful graphics, it would have icons, it would have folders. It was Jobs’s idea that a CEO’s entire office, his cabinets, his folders, his documents, his calculations, etc., should be contained in such a box-like machine that even if he changed places, his work would stay with him. The name of the machine of Jobs’ idea was Macintosh.
Bill Gates and his team were working with Jobs for his Macintosh at that time. Bill Gates was developing software for it. That is why the Microsoft team had access to all the resources and assets of Apple. According to Jobs, he trusted Bill Gates blindly then. He kept Bill Gates with him like friends. He had discussed all his secrets with him and he felt that Bill Gates and Jobs together would revolutionize the world and since there would be no competition in front of them, it would not be a problem for them to become a millionaire in a few days.
Bill Gates’s planning was not like that. Before Apple introduced its Macintosh in the market, Microsoft launched a new software in the name of Windows in the market. Its advantage was that it could be successfully run on different machines. That is, during this entire period, Bill Gates had worked on Windows quietly and secretly. Windows had already come to the market on the same idea as Macintosh. Interesting graphics and folders!
This made Jobs’ mind spin. Bill Gates had practically driven Apple out of the market. If you look at it from the other side, Bill Gates had almost destroyed Apple. Steve Jobs even called Bill Gates a thief, called him a fraud and a traitor, to which Bill Gates said in a very cold tone that the fact is that Jobs, our neighbor was a rich man named Zee Rocks, I entered his house before you and stole his TV. You should have been a little faster.
It is a fact that X-Ray created the world’s first interesting and graphically based user interface. Their software and system were, however, so complex that ordinary people could not use it, only software engineers could use it. Steve Jobs got the original idea for creating the Macintosh from there. Bill Gates also knew this. Jobs’ mistake was that he mistook business friendships for personal friendships, while no relationship in business is personal. Bill Gates, going one step further than Steve Jobs, not only created an operating system that was easy to use and could be used by everyone, but he also went one step further and kept it open for all systems.
Windows became an overnight success. Every personal computer manufacturer in the world bought Windows, even in the early 90s, it was time that Windows was the most popular operating system in the world and was far behind it. At that time, Apple was just struggling. Apple’s Mac OS could only run on Apple’s hardware design system. In contrast, Microsoft’s open model kept its doors open to the whole world. Because of this, Apple’s market share was less than two percent at that time.
In 1997, Apple came close to bankruptcy. Earlier, Apple’s board had fired Steve Jobs and the company was in someone else’s hands. Jobs spent his free time and he kept working on new ideas during this time. When the company was completely on the wall, the same board brought Steve Jobs back.
Steve Jobs made the decision at that time that Apple’s board sat down and the world was shocked. Steve Jobs called his biggest business rival, Bill Gates. He told Bill Gates that my company, Apple, was on the verge of bankruptcy. If Apple went bankrupt, the competition in the market would disappear. You can understand what this means. I want $228 million. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs reached an investment agreement of $150 million after mutual negotiations.
At that time, Microsoft was an empire of $148 billion and Apple had only reached $3 billion. Bill Gates had also obliged Apple in the negotiations of this deal to make Microsoft Office acceptable and available for the Mac operating system. Apple fans were furious about this, but Steve Jobs knew that if they went to the bank, the company might survive due to the high interest rates and strict conditions, but the company would never be able to grow, and if this gap were to arise, the world was now ready to fill it.
This deal not only gave Apple a lifeline, but the company also started on the path of growth. Steve Jobs then introduced the iPod in 2001, which proved to be a game changer. It set the business paths of Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft’s focus was on personal computing, while Steve Jobs had entered a completely new market. After that, the iPhone changed the world. Although BlackBerry and Nokia ruled at that time, the invention of the iPhone truly gave the world smartphones. After that, the iPad was introduced, and then, in no time, Apple started ruling the market on the smartphone side.
It is not that Microsoft did not enter the phone market. It had bought Nokia, it had also introduced Windows Phone but there was nothing unique or interesting in it and now Jobs’ ideas were not available to help Gates, so Microsoft failed even after investing billions of dollars in the phone market. The world was changing rapidly and Microsoft was now slowly slowing down in the race.
A bold decision made by Steve Jobs in 1997 not only saved the company but also made it a new market leader in the next ten years.
There are few decisions in your life that can cover your entire life and also remember that failure is not that you failed, failure is actually that you did not try to get up after falling. You did not make a new start. You did not take bold decisions. You did not start walking and running again. So tell me, when are you starting again?