Everything iPad

A few people out there may read that title and may not be surprised at all. After all, Bill Gates is essentially Microsoft, so why would he like the iPad? Well, Mr. Gates isn’t afraid of saying good things about a product, even if he didn’t create it. Back when the iPhone launched, he praised Apple’s mobile phone, even going as far as saying that Microsoft didn’t aim high enough. Gates has a clear conclusion on the iPad, and he isn’t all that impressed.

Bill Gates doesn’t believe that the iPad is a revolutionary product, but simply a bit of refinement to a product that already exists in the market. And while there are several others out there with loud voices saying the same thing, we’re sure that Steve Jobs isn’t shaking in his boots. While the majority of people out there are looking at the iPad as it stands now, and not looking ahead, we are beginning to wonder if Gates is doing the same thing. In his quoted remark about the tablet, he notes that the iPad is a great reader, but nothing much more than that:

“You know, I’m a big believer in touch and digital reading, but I still think that some mixture of voice, the pen and a real keyboard – in other words a netbook – will be the mainstream on that,” he said. “So, it’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”

Yes, the iPad is going to be a fantastic reader. Even if it didn’t have the support from the majority of publishing houses available, along with the textbook and comic book crowd, the iPad would excel as a reader. However, there’s so much more that the tablet will be able to do — can do, that it seems to be slipping past people’s point of view. Or, like maybe in the case of Bill Gates, maybe they are trying to underplay Apple’s tablet, in hopes that those listening won’t give it a shot, and therefore fall in love with it.

[via CrunchGear]