What made Microsoft founder Bill Gates jealous of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs?

Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently revealed that late Apple CEO Steve Jobs possessed a quality that he was "jealous" of and probably can never achieve, the Hindustan Times reported.

In an interview with podcaster Dax Shepard, Gates, 68, revealed that he envied Jobs's ability to be effortless and natural on stage.

"Steve Jobs was a natural. It was always fun to watch him rehearse because part of his genius was, when he would finally do it, he would make it look like he's just thinking it up right there," Gates said. "I'll never achieve that level."

The philanthropist shared that he and Jobs used to travel as representatives of Microsoft and Apple mainly to convince individuals and organisations of the potential benefits of the tools which they made and how they could make a difference.

He revealed that he still copies Jobs' communication approach.

Gates said: "A big part of the job I had at Microsoft and the job I have now is explaining what we're up to in a hopefully straightforward way that connects with a particular audience."

In their 2015 book "Becoming Steve Jobs," authors Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli described that Jobs, who passed away in 2011 from pancreatic cancer, would often prepare for his speeches months in advance.

Schlender noted: "I once spent an entire day watching him run through multiple rehearsals of a single presentation, tweaking everything from the colour and angle of certain spotlights to editing and rearranging the order of the Keynote presentation slides to improve his pacing."

The author revealed that once, Jobs "just sat silently onstage with his chin in his hand, staring at the floor for nearly 15 minutes" because he was frustrated with a "wrong lighting cue". 

"He didn't yell this time but just made everyone wait while he cooled down."