Bill Gates, the original cheerleader for tablet computing, has offered up his review of Apple’s iPad. Here’s a clue, Steve Jobs won’t be happy…
Microsoft showed an HP Slate tablet at CES but Gates confined his comments to the iPad. Given his well-known love of styluses, they got a mention too.
Gates said: “I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading but I still think that some mixture of voice, pen and a real keyboard – in other words a netbook – will be the mainstream on that.”
Gates’s vision differs wildly from Steve Jobs’s view of netbooks. During the Apple iPad keynote, Jobs slammed them, saying they’re “not good at anything”.
Gates admitted that he was wowed by the iPhone when it first launched: “[I said] ‘Oh my god, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’” We’re not sure Steve Ballmer would be so quick to praise Apple.
Gates summed up his view of the iPhone saying: “It’s a nice reader but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh I wish Microsoft had done it.’” Maybe Bill knows that the Microsoft Courier’s on the way soon.
Due April | £TBC | Apple (via BNet)
