Microsoft's evolution over the past few years has brought it closer to Apple than ever before. Just like its old nemesis, the Windows company now sells its own phones and tablets, gives away OS updates for free, and runs a large network of retail stores. The first flagship Microsoft Store is, in fact, being set up only a few blocks away from Apple's iconic cube on Fifth Avenue. But dig below these skin-deep similarities and shared geographies, and you'll find two fundamentally different strategies.

For Apple, the future of the personal computer is about making the machine even more personal. That's the premise underlying the new Apple Watch: the idea of creating a stronger and more literal bond between the smart device and its user, who now becomes its wearer. Microsoft, on the other hand, defines its future as one of more personal experiences rather than devices. These approaches differ dramatically, but that doesn't make them incompatible. In fact, it's because Apple and Microsoft are pursuing such thoroughly divergent goals that the two can work together in an unprecedented fashion.

The two tech giants are now more complementary than ever

The history of Apple and Microsoft's relationship has often been one of direct confrontation. Whether it's Surface vs. iPad, Zune vs. iPod, or the classic PC vs. Mac, the two American giants have often competed for the same clientele, trying to sate the same needs. Now, with Microsoft essentially conceding the supremacy of Android and iOS as the predominant mobile operating systems, there's more room to see the best of both Apple and Microsoft in one device. A handy example of such synergy was shown off during Microsoft's Build 2015 conference last week, with an Uber add-on for Outlook on the iPad allowing you to book a ride directly from your calendar.

Microsoft is doing everything in its power to tear down the walls between various mobile devices and platforms. This past week it also showed how Android and iOS apps can be ported to Windows, and its hardware ambitions under Satya Nadella appear to be much more geared toward ensuring affordability than they ever were during Steve Ballmer's reign. The Microsoft goal is true universality of apps, running on the widest range of devices, whereas Apple is focused on a narrow Continuity between iOS and OS X devices. You can pick up calls and respond to SMS messages on your Mac, but only if you're using an iPhone — try to make that same bit of synergy work with an Android phone or a Windows tablet and it all falls apart.

Apple's doing what it's always done while Microsoft is evolving into a more Google-like company

When Apple brings new software and services to its devices, it does so with the deliberate aim of making them stand apart from the rest, which is precisely what Microsoft's now working to reverse. Apple loves to present itself as a company that combines hardware, software, and services into one incomparable package, but its revenues every year show that, at least financially, it's primarily a hardware company. Everything Apple does is designed to sell another iPhone, iPad, or Mac — even the Apple Watch, in its present fledgling state, amounts to little more than the world's fanciest iPhone accessory.