Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, has been a crucial driving force of the company's Surface line of products, from tablets to 2-in-1s to an all-in-one desktop and full-fledged laptops.
The Surface line has become one of Microsoft's most recognizable brand this era, and it represents that Microsoft, during and well after the retirement of its Windows Phone business, has continued to be a hardware company despite lukewarm success with it. So it should come as no surprise that wherever Nadella goes, he's boasting about all things Surface, and that includes poking fun at people who use iPads instead of its own tablets.
Microsoft CEO Pokes Fun At iPads
Nadella is currently in the middle of a world tour to promote his book Hit Refresh, in which he talks about how he plans on reinventing one of the biggest companies in the world. At his stop in India, something pretty funny happened.
As TechRadar reports, Nadella was coming in to meet with journalists, some of whom at the time were using iPads. As he walked into the room along with Microsoft India head Anant Maheshwari, he couldn't help but chuckle after spotting that TechRadar's Sahil Mohan Gupta and a colleague were carrying iPads. He promptly said, "You need to get a real computer, my friend."
While Nadella dropped the remark in joking spirits, it was also an essence of what he was doing with Microsoft, said Gupta. He is evidently confident of Microsoft and its Surface line — certainly enough to make fun of Apple, which have perhaps the world's most recognizable tablets. Recognizable, however, doesn't mean powerful, and that's what Nadella seemed to be getting at when he says iPad aren't real computers.
The Microsoft And Apple Rivalry
It's not the first time Microsoft has come after Apple. Previously, it has insisted that Windows 10 computers can do a lot more than Macs, laughed at Apple's claim that the iPad is a computer, and suggested that the iPad is merely an example of Apple copying Microsoft.
Microsoft isn't alone in making fun of the Cupertino tech firm, either. Most recently, Samsung fired shots at the iPhone X in a new ad, insulting the phone's design while saying its new features have been on Galaxy phones for a long time.
Though Nadella's comments about the iPad can be chalked up to industry humor, he genuinely believes Microsoft is different from Apple and Google, the latter of which is fast rising as a hardware company.
"We are not some middleman in the marketplace. We are a tool creator, we are not a luxury good manufacturer. That's not who we are," said Nadella, adding that its products are tools that pave the way for others to create or be productive.
One has to wonder who that "luxury good manufacturer" refers to. Any guesses?
