MacDaily News reports today that Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Chairmen Bill Gates will share the stage at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference this year. These two titans will jointly discuss the history and future of the digital revolution in a supposed, unrehearsed and unscripted conversation, on May 30 with The Journal's ace tech reporters (and "D" co-producers) Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.
Both Jobs and Gates have made numerous individual appearances at this conference, but the two have never previously shared the stage and limelight. The question is which one will outsmart the other as many will be watching as they discreetly sell their distinct and competitive companies in this friendly format. (Just consider Apple's "PC versus Mac guy" series of TV commercials, which Gates says "bugs him.")
It seems that Apple has been one step ahead of Microsoft in the consumer product sector as it has bested Microsoft in the digital music market, the phone market, and is gaining rapidly in the personal computer market. But Gates has a leg up with the X-Box and still-dominant computer operating system, let alone software.
This unscripted tete-a-tete may even be better than the Apple TV spots.
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