Bill Gates on iPad: "It's a Nice Reader, But..."

[inlovewithi]

Why are you using an old stylus with a Nintendo? Oh, yes, one reason styluses suck is because you lose them. Unless you're in an accident, you don't lose a finger.

Because it's better than the plastic DS stylus, the tip is superior. Plus the DS stylus is also too small for my hands.

 

[Lesser Evets]

It's so nice that he has such public opinions, but he should spend a year **** and correcting his horrid OS's.

 

[theneweyes]

Thankyou Mr gates for pointing out the simple truth. That the ipad 'aint all that'. You have been very honest to point out that the iphone was revolutionary and is a remarkable piece of kit. What the macfanboys and the people getting paid from Apple to post on here must realise that not every product released by Apple is going be ground breaking.

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[ericinboston]

I've always hated this logic. People immediately compare Mac sales with Windows sales.

Why not compare Apple with HP, Dell, and the market share that belongs to other computer manufactures?

In reality Apple is not competing with Windows. Apple does not sell OS-X to everyone. If they did, then they would be competing with Windows and the 10% marketshare comparison would be fair. Apple competes with Dell and co. because they sell you a computer. The fact that they're computer has a different OS has in the past decade been the advantage they've had over every other PC manufacturer.

That logic doesn't make sense. It's Apple world vs. Windows-PC world. Period.

When Joe Customer walks into Staples or Best Buy and looks at the "computer section" of the store, there are Macs and there are Windows-based pcs.

Since the real guts of the "computer" that makes it all come together for the end user is the operating system...the user interface...it's thus a Windows world vs. a Mac world. Trying to compare Apple to Dell on a per unit personal computer sell-a-thon is pointless...because Apple and Dell get the same physical hardware from the same manufacturers just like everyone else. It's the OS that really separates the buyer's decision (and maybe sexiness of the device). Thus the OS is really the differentiator that separates the Windows world from the Mac world.

EDIT: Let me give you a better analogy of my reasoning: You go to a car lot and it's filled with every manufacturer out there...you ask for help and you are told that only Ford sells Manual Transmissions...every other manufacturer (Honda, Chrysler, Acura, Toyota, Jeep, etc) sell automatic. Ok. Fine. You notice all the cars basically have the same features (windows, doors, seats, tires, etc)...then notice that the Fords are 2x-3x the price as all the others. Hmmm. You also wonder if you prefer to drive (pricetag aside) a manual vs. an automatic...As a consumer, you have to compare now the Manual Transmissions vs. the Automatics because that's the differentiator. Therefore, you cannot compare a Ford (the manual) to just a Honda (automatic) because they each only make 1 single transmission style. Now...if all car manufacturers were able to offer 2 transmission styles, sure, now it's an equal playing field and you can certainly compare a Ford to a Honda.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

he does wish Microsoft could of done it, but i do agree that there is no big big big big reason to just switch over from say a regular laptop or reader if u already have one but since i don't when i get a laptop i will get either that or another mac.

 

[Otaviano]

Good for you. I also use computer to create content.

And to make life easier for us. Apple makes a whole line of computers (called Macs) to do exactly that!

But there is a big chunk of the market, who don't want that stuff. They just want to do Facebook and Twitter, and watch videos and generally they want to be unproductive more than they want to be productive.

So Apple made a cheap computer for them.

I know that nobody has thought of doing that before, but is there anything intrinsically wrong in creating a computer for that market?

Who says the iPad can't be for creators? Apple put a touch OS on a large screen, it's functionality will be decided by app developers.

I just don't get how people don't see that.

You don't think that the iPad can't provide something different in terms of creation apps? This of the music creation programs you could build with that huge touch interface.

People need to look at the big picture and not the demoed features. The only thing hindering the iPad is if developers will be interested in building serious apps before there is a monstrous user base. Something that didn't happen with the iPhone.

 

[Simon R.]

Here's my take on this:

The media has gone absolutely crazy lately, reporting on things that are hip and cool, until our ears start bleeding.

With how secretive apple is about their products, they're being stung by this media frenzy.

First, the media hyped this product up to the extreme. It wasn't Apple. .

Actually it was Apple - did you miss Steve Jobs running around like an excited schoolboy screaming "isn't this great?!" (to a very lukewarm applause from the audience) and "It's MAGICAL!" in the presentation?

 

[ChrisA]

I agres with Mr. Bill

He's right. Nothing special about iPad. It's missing most of the features I expected it to have. It's just a larger version of the iPod touch.

Steve Jobs was dead wrong abut this being the most exciting thig he has done. The best thing he did which saved the company was you put the Next Sptep OS on Macs, and call it Mac OS X. He that not happened there would be no Apple Inc today.

Apple could continue survive just fine with no iPad.

Bill is right. What is needed in voice intercation, real keyboards or astylus that let's you write on the screen. It also really should have come with an app that lets the iPad act as a remove screen to you Mac that works over the wireless network. then you'd have all you own Mac Apps and data on the iPad.

They rushed this to market and left off features just to get it done.

 

[appleseed76]

More people have purchased (and are continuing to outnumber) Windows machines for numerous reasons. My gut tells me that one of the reasons people do not buy a Mac is because they feel for 1/2 or 1/3 the price they can do the same thing on a PC. Again, I'm not talking at all about quality of the OS.

I agree with you about people feeling that they can do the same things on a PC, only cheaper. This is one reason I can't get my school to invest in Macs, despite not having to worry about anti-viral software and getting a great suite of creative software right out of the box.

However, this is where the iPad comes in. It is the future of computing whether you like it or not. MS's monopoly on the OS market isn't going to go away any time soon. Businesses are locked in, schools are locked in, there's nothing they can do to break away without a major overhaul of their systems and massive training costs to get everyone up to speed. Again, iPad to the rescue!!!

Step 1: Create a light, mobile operating system that even my Grandma can understand. Just touch it!

Step 2: Slip in the backdoor and capture the hearts of America with a consumer device akin to the original iPod and now iPhone.

Step 3: Let people get things done by creating software that's simple and task driven. Ex. I want to check my stocks. Click on stocks app, enter stocks once, look at stocks.

Step 4: Take over the world.

 

[Macmel]

I was actually hesitating between getting an iPhone or an iPad, but, corret me if I'm wrong, this is my comparison:
iPad is obviously bigger than the iPhone, but let's forget about it for a second:
- With the iPhone I can substitute my current phone, and it has a camera and iPod functionality.
- The ipad is also an iPod, but you won't carry it around just to listen to music because it's too big. So with an iPhone, i substitute my phone and my iPod.
- I don't want to pay twice to the telephone company, so I would buy the iPad without 3G: no internet except through wifi. The iphone provides access everywhere.
-Applications you have for both. I know you have iWork for iPad, but seriously guys, who's gonna write anything longer than a letter to the bank with a virtual keyboard that you have to hold on your lap?.
-eReader? Well, it's retroiluminated screen, so it's not even good at that.

Can anybody tell me what's the difference (as of today) between an iPad and a big iPhone?. Besides the camera and the ability to make calls and the price tag, of course. I think I'm geting the iPhone.

 

[brian.gillespie]

He doesn't get it

Like a lot of tech people, he doesn't get it. If he got what it was about, MS would have one in the works.

 

[Eidorian]

I agree with you about people feeling that they can do the same things on a PC, only cheaper. This is one reason I can't get my school to invest in Macs, despite not having to worry about anti-viral software and getting a great suite of creative software right out of the box.

However, this is where the iPad comes in. It is the future of computing whether you like it or not. MS's monopoly on the OS market isn't going to go away any time soon. Businesses are locked in, schools are locked in, there's nothing they can do to break away without a major overhaul of their systems and massive training costs to get everyone up to speed. Again, iPad to the rescue!!!

Step 1: Create a light, mobile operating system that even my Grandma can understand. Just touch it!

Step 2: Slip in the backdoor and capture the hearts of America with a consumer device akin to the original iPod and now iPhone.

Step 3: Let people get things done by creating software that's simple and task driven. Ex. I want to check my stocks. Click on stocks app, enter stocks once, look at stocks.

Step 4: Take over the world.

Is the iPad SDK available on the iPad as well?

 

[lincolntran]

Lol, the Windows computers where I worked from 2002 to 2008 had been running straight for months and years. You remind me of the comment of another Mac user in another forum who was bragging about how when he closes the lid on his macbook, the computer goes into sleep mode. I was like, "WOW." Talk about innovation.

How long can "your" "personal" pc run before you need to shut it down or feel the need to shutdown or afraid it'll crash? Then after that, How long before you need to replace it with another one?

I never said anything about a quality OS. You did.

Since 1979 home users have had a choice in personal computers...back in the 80's it was quite a shootout between someoneone owning an Apple //e, a PC, or a Commodore. Around 1994 the personal computer market was really down to PCs and Macs. Guess what...people had a choice in 1994 and they still do in 2010. More people have purchased (and are continuing to outnumber) Windows machines for numerous reasons. My gut tells me that one of the reasons people do not buy a Mac is because they feel for 1/2 or 1/3 the price they can do the same thing on a PC. Again, I'm not talking at all about quality of the OS.

Really? Can you buy a computer as good/pretty/perform as the iMac for the same price?
I feel like I need to remind you (in case you missed it) that there was a challenge for everyone who can buy a computer that is as pretty and offer the same performance (exact performance and spec) as the 27 " iMac and noone was able to beat that. Want to take on that challenge?

p.s. People always have a choice, but their wallet won't allow them to make the choice they want.

 

[calderone]

しらね〜よ。バカかな？じょ〜だん。(I have no idea. Is he stupid. Just kidding.)

漢字は使えへん？信じられへん。

 

[Davidkoh]

4)Building on #3, my personal opinion is that unless Apple starts selling cheaper Macs, there will be far fewer people out there (marketshare) who are going to spend X on Apple when they can spend 1/3X for a Windows machine...or even 1/2X. I like the style of the iMac's...but I'm just not going to plunk down $1200+ for a computer when, for my needs (and most likely a large % of the consumers out there), I can do the same thing with a $600-$700 pc.

Your biggest mistake here is to assume people will spend as little as possible for the hardware they get. The big mass of people will keep on buying the Macs because they can. Some will do it to show off, some will do it because they like the design, some because of the OS, the list goes on. Many people today got jobs so they can afford the extra expense, saving is done to a lesser extent too, so the disposable income is high at this time.

Also Apple is getting quite a bit of the revenues from the notebook market, every third dollar or so. The most important thing is not how many you sell, but how much you make from selling them. http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/desktop_mobile/the_great_windowsmac_laptop_war.html

 

[inlovewithi]

Apparently Microsoft thinks that Windows waking from sleep quickly when opening the lid (you know, like Macs have been doing for years) is something special. I was like, "WOW." Talk about innovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJxfraw8ZdM

Then I don't get it, wake up has always been instant on all of my Windows PC. Just did it right now, less then half a second. Plus that's not a Windows feature promotion, it's just saying that the Toshiba laptop wakes up faster than before. In other words a hardware issue. Perhaps they added an LED screen.

 

[Swift]

I've always hated this logic. People immediately compare Mac sales with Windows sales.

Why not compare Apple with HP, Dell, and the market share that belongs to other computer manufactures?

I agree. By coupling their OS with their own machines, they lose market share. But they gain control over their entire environment.

If Windows was an OS that was tied to machines they made, it would be a) nicer and b) have less market share.

Most sales of Windows come with commodity, cookie-cutter hardware, and they're bought up by business, which has a Windows fixation because of the pricing, and they're used to it. But the licensing of Windows is very annoying for management, too.

I worked where they had about 15 licenses for this vertical software package. $13,000 for the license, they threw in the Windows machine. So we upgraded to XP, and the software worked fine. But last year, suddenly we get the "You may be victims of a counterfeit..." window. Boss phones Microsoft. The copy of XP is legal! Yes, but it was bought with a copy of the vertical software. It came with 2000. But we bought XP! Yes, but now you have to get a new license from the vertical software manufacturer.

Phone the software provider: okay, how much is a new license. Well, you'd have to go to version 6, and that will be... $10,000. But it comes with Windows Vista! New machines, new, unneeded version, new copy of Windows.

We went back to 2000. Now we have to stay off the Internet on those machines. But researching on the net is absolutely necessary, and what's on 2000? IE4 or IE6?

 

[frjonah]

This whole article is hilarious... who cares what Bill Gates thinks. It's the PC world that put out tablet failure after tablet failure and Gates hardly seems to be the most qualified candidate to add his commentary...

"It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it."

We feel the same way, Bill... we are very glad that Microsoft didn't do it b/c it would have turned out like a piece of plastic junk with 27 versions to choose from...

That said, it will be interesting to see what "PC" tablet offerings hit the market this year... I will particularly interested in seeing Sony, Dell and HP's designs... but Microsoft, give me a break!

 

[inlovewithi]

How long can "your" "personal" pc run before you need to shut it down or feel the need to shutdown or afraid it'll crash? Then after that, How long before you need to replace it with another one?

Usually when I install a program that requires a restart, or when Windows has an update, so every few weeks. I don't know if you've used Windows before sounds like you have very little experience, since you're just repeating the typical things that Mac users repeat, but ever since Vista, the longer you have your computer on, the better it runs, because it monitors your needs and puts everything into the ram, making it run smoother. I had a Dell laptop that I replaced with a Mac, simply because it was already too old, 5 years, it ran perfectly, though the battery clip did break which was very annoying. The mac on the other hand has a bulging battery, cracks where the lid closes, a crack on the back, has to be connected to a monitor, because the bulging battery presses against the track pad, making it impossible to type. Because of those problems I'm never going to pay this much money for a Mac.

 

[Gravity]

He is comparing to a netbook which is wrong, I have come to realize. Two different things suited to different people. Most people consume, not create so a keyboard and fine grain input (pen) is not necessary for its purpose.

Netbook makers should be nervous. Netbooks have limited use for general computing... most buyers use them for media consumption. The iPad will replace that functionality... and brilliantly. The netbook better evolve, or it's gonna die.

Gates either doesn't get it, or.... oh, screw it. He doesn't get consumers.

 

[nwcs]

These posts have been very entertaining. I'm reminded of something I learned in college: never build a product based upon polls. Same goes for government, if you lead by poll results you end up going nowhere.

The iPad will be a success. Maybe not as big as the iPhone in scale but it will be successful. And as apps are written for it, people will buy the iPad to get the apps. I've seen that with the iPod Touch. People got them just so they could use a particular app they really wanted.

I think another thing people don't see is the maturation of the computer market. As soon as style considerations became important (original iMac) the market moved from early adopter to mainstream. Things are differentiated not by technical features primarily but by lifestyle primarily. The iPad is targeted to a lifestyle and not to a feature list. Again, this was what they did with the iPhone. And it worked. It will work again.

 

[Eidorian]

How long can "your" "personal" pc run before you need to shut it down or feel the need to shutdown or afraid it'll crash? Then after that, How long before you need to replace it with another one?

OS X needs a reliability monitor interface beyond the logs.

You might want to talk to everyone still running a Dell Pentium 4 Northwood. That is disturbing still the most common computer.

 

[Gravity]

Maybe in a few years after Steve realizes that a blown up iPhone isn't enough to sell it. But right now there is nothing "magical" about it. Frankly I think that is the most lame term I have even seen Apple using to promote a new device. I guess they couldn't fine any real, concrete ways of describing what is it good for - instead, let's just call it "magical".

Are you kidding me? It's a gorgeous and enjoyable way to consume all things "media!" It will lure away most media consumers away from their netbooks and low-end laptops!

 

[paul4339]

The iPad is everything I did not want.

You guys out there might not use your computers for creation - watching DVD's and Facebook - but I mostly use my computers for creation. So the iPad is junk to me. I wanted an Apple netbook. I agree with Bill Gates. And even Apple fans are allowed to do that, occasionally.

I'm glad I did not get rid of my Powerbook 12".

I need to create documents. I need a highly portable computer (don't call the iPhone a computer if it can't be used regularly for creation) for creating content. I don't want to type on glass. I need something really portable when on the go. The MBP 13" is ok, but I yearn for something smaller.

I predict the iPad will plonk in sales.

Can't Apple sometimes stop being so creative and leading edge, and just give us something that meets out basic daily needs, e.g. an Apple netbook.

If Apple can't make a netbook for the price their competitors are, then don't. Give us an overpriced Apple netbook - at a price that fulfills Apple's greed - what would be new?

Just out of curiosity, what's wrong with the existing netbooks out there for creating documents?
(is it the software that you use thats unavailable on other netbooks?)

 

[ericinboston]

Step 1: Create a light, mobile operating system that even my Grandma can understand. Just touch it!

Step 2: Slip in the backdoor and capture the hearts of America with a consumer device akin to the original iPod and now iPhone.

Step 3: Let people get things done by creating software that's simple and task driven. Ex. I want to check my stocks. Click on stocks app, enter stocks once, look at stocks.

Step 4: Take over the world.

I agree...I think the iPad is pretty nice. However, I, like anyone else who has ever used an iPhone or Touch feel it's basically, a larger iPhone/Touch. Sure, yes, I know there are features added/missing from all 3 devies (iPad, touch, Phone) but overall that's how I feel...and that it starts at $500. I think it will sell well...but not great. We'll see, though.