Bill Gates urges Islamic nations to ensure technology reaches the poor When we finish the job there are immense savings going forward literally tens of billions over time," he said. Mr Gates, also paid tribute to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple who died last year. Steve did a phenomenal piece of work. Most people would expect today that it was going out of business and he actually came back in and not only righted the ship, but made it incredibly valuable. It's a phenomenal business story. Steve and I were friends, we were competitors, we were a lot of different things, but it was amazing what he did. However, Mr Gates, who remains chairman of Microsoft, but stepped back from the day to day running of the business four years ago, ruled himself out of making a similar return to day-to-day business. I spent about 15pc of my time as chairman of Microsoft, I give them lots of hints and things. Microsoft used to be the biggest technology company in the world, but has fallen far behind its rival Apple in recent years. The company, which is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, has struggled to keep pace with demand for the tablets and smartphones produced by its rivals.