Bill Gates unimpressed by Apple iPad - Page 4

I don't know about groundbreaking, but the thing changing that is the iPad itself. The real revolution here is that it's the first large touchscreen device that's actually useable by average people, and thus when used by a lot of people this device will have many apps that enable the iPad to become different things in a way a laptop never could be.

Your need for 'newness' makes you miss the bigger picture (as usual). Carrying the new interface over from the iPhone / Touch guarantees that millions of users are already familiar with the device. When launching an entirely new device that is bound to meet with a certain degree of resistance (cough cough). Besides, the interface must be one of the most successful ever so why change it?

@Mr. Gates: Your bluff, sir, has been called.

I agree too that I wasn't impressed with the iPod and thought to myself what the heck Jobs and Apple were doing, as I vented and rant on the old "As the Apple Turns" website as I impatiently waited for an OS revision. Good thing, I'm not running Apple... Even better, since I bought the stock in the 70's range!

Regarding the iPad... it gives people a choice. What kind of people? People who don't own laptops. People who don't own iPhones or iPod Touches and don't want to view something with a screen that small! People who have a choice that I didn't have up until now, well the end of March anyway...

See, I don't have a laptop. I'm not looking for something that can be used as a mobile computer and that can do everything my 2006 iMac, that is, my 2006 Matte Screen, thank you very much, iMac can do regarding having certain applications installed for on the road productivity. I'm not on the road and I'd rather be in my home / office surroundings when doing my productivity... However, I wouldn't mind the iPad to have and to be able to check my e-mail, type back a reply or two and visit the web. It is what I would be doing if I had a more expensive laptop. Couldn't I do this with an iPod Touch or iPhone? If I had one, yeah probably, however, over the years, rotting in front of my Apple, hence my ID name, and getting older by the minute and things not working as well as they used to and I'm talking about EYE's! The last thing I'd want is using something small and compact that the iPad can accomplish in a more comfortable, inexpensive and less eye squinting way! It is nice to see after all this time when Jobs would come out with the iPod Classic, the iPod mini, the iPod minimalist (I'm joking) but every iPod announcement was a thinner iPod with a smaller screen and higher storage capacity. It's just nice to see Apple enlarging a product for a change. My eyes can definitely use the break!

is this the same bill gates who was so impressed with steve ballmer?

if so, it now becomes necessary to take bill gate's opinions with a larger grain of salt.

So how many should someone buy who is impressed?

Very true.

There are people out there that will argue that camera A is better than camera B because "it has more megapixels". For them, that number is the defining aspect of quality. And the bigger the number the better the camera. They say such things with complete sincerity. They believe this to be true.

And there are people that will compare cameras simply by comparing photographs.

For some people, the inputs really matter. What's under the hood, what are the stats. Geeks are really prone to making this mistake.

For others it is all about the outputs. What is the experience? Never mind what goes into it, what comes out of it? What does it feel like?

If you reduce things to components, you don't really experience them at all.

C.

Would he be more impressed if the iPad had two keyboards? Oh, wait. It does. The virtual keyboard and a physical (dock or Bluetooth) keyboard.

Also, John C. Dvorak has lashed out at the iPad, calling it "useless". After reading what he had to say about the iPhone when it was released, this MUST mean that the iPad will be a roaring success.

I genuinely believe he's not impressed, but I think he's missing what this device is for. Average Joe and up! It's a super-fast couch computer and the timing is just right.

lol... I actually just posted on my personal blog about why people need to give iPad a break:

"4 Reasons why people need to chill out and give the iPad a break" - http://bit.ly/cfuRWY

What are your thoughts?

+1 from me.

Exactly. Groundbreaking may be using the wrong term but much as the iPhone has changed how we interact with the great ether I think the iPad will continue this trend. The specific functionality provided by apps will make this thing super useful as a media centre / controller, educational text book, kitchen utility (with wall mount), in work shops, in the living room, laptop replacement (for many), industry (factory floor to warehouse), sports (watch the functionaries at sports events) etc etc. Sure, many of these things have been done with laptops, netbooks or tablet pc's or other dedicated devices but not as gracefully and not as multifunctional. The groundbreaking shift may be that we no longer conceive of the thing as a computer with its archaic files structure etc.

For all the noise the critics make it is just that - noise. There are issues and it won't suit everybody as we know, but I cannot understand how apple enthusiasts, and in particular, stockholders, can fail to see its potential and be excited.

Most consumers are not impressed with it either. Although the little fanboys here will try to claim it is the best thing since swiss cheese....too dumb to realize it is nothing more than an iPod Touch.

Bill Gates would be unimpressed by a spaceship from Mars unless it had a Microsoft logo on it. What a turd-brain.

Agree.

Most consumers need to chill out... http://bit.ly/cfuRWY

I'm not claiming it's the best thing since "swiss cheese", but I think it's going to do a lot better than you think.

The trouble with the ignore filter is that the comments show up in the replies. The best defence is for users to ignore the trolls.

If the moderators were watching the threads 24/7 it would be easy to filter out stupid thread hoggers but its difficult.

Lifetime bans are very severe but surely you can ban someone for a week with warnings?

[EDIT]In reference to hillstone's comment - use of the term fanboy or derivative thereof should automatically effect a one week ban.[/EDIT]

Couldn't agree more!

Yes, look where the apple tv is today - 6.5 million units sold, the biggest single selling device of it's type. Don't believe the media, the average owner of this device loves it - that it is 'crippled' is the fault of copyright owning content providers.

And an extension of the largest media platform on the planet, what a terrible idea. It will never catch on.

Seriously?!

Why even have the thread on the board. I could give a fig about what bill gates thinks or cares.

I love my iPod Touch. For teaching and also for leisure activities, I would absolutely LOVE a bigger, faster iPod Touch with more features. For the same price as a netbook, it's a no-brainer. Count me in.

And while "most consumers" might not be impressed with the iPad, far more consumers are impressed with the iPad than they are with any Windows tablet that's ever been produced or announced. And that's what's important.

I fully expect the iPad, and maybe a few copycat devices running Chrome or Android, to surpass netbook sales within 3 years. And that will be an achievement that the haters won't be able to deny any more than they can deny that the iPhone absolutely annihilated WinMo.

Very well said. Bill is a geek. He thinks like a geek, looks like a geek, and acts like a geek -- consequently other geeks understand his approach and are comfortable with it. He's their guy. Steve is, well, Steve. He tends to really piss off the geeks, who don't understand his approach, and as a result, feel threatened by it. Steve is the anti-geek.

It's the geeks vs. the anti-geeks. Put that in your hip pocket for future reference. It will explain a lot of what happens next.

I can't wait to see this be yet another massive success and the doubters quietly shrink into the background.

The apple tv and macbook air might not sell in the same numbers as iPhones, iPods and the iMac - that doesn't make them failures. If apple is producing failure after failure (as every new product launch is treated by the tech community) how come shares are through the roof, the company is posting massive profits and in the best health of its history.

A lot of 'experts' on here think they can do better - off you go and make your first billion then.

I have a list as long as my arm for potential applications on the iPad which are not possible on the iPhone.
There are so many new and exciting applications on the way. And so much better than swiss cheese.

I'm unimpressed by Bill Gates

<plonk>

For general usage the input has to be your fngers. It's just too convenient, but I agree that a stylus has plenty of benefits.

It's very natural to hold a stylus. I'm sure there will be apps that take advantage of that. I expect to see a good deal of capacitance styli on the market to go along with various iPad apps.

normally, i just read through the comments after reading the apple insider articles, but felt compelled to respond to this one after reading the posts here.

First, i have been waiting and waiting for apple to release a tablet, one that could allow me to transition from my macbook pro in the field and allow me the flexibility of a good tablet.
I was very disappointed with apples announcement, even though reading rumor sites, i pretty much knew what was coming, i still held hope. just because i was disappointed doesn't mean i hate apple.
the tablet is useless to me.

Second, i'm sure consumers will buy it, it's the next big fad item, yes, it will be a trendy item. people can now sit at their coffee shop, read magazines and news without having to squint on their iphone, or slap down the money for a laptop. will it be crazy successful, who knows? time will tell.

outside of light (and i do mean light) work like email, short documents and whatever the appstore has to offer, i don't see the software market embracing the tablet for it's potential.

right now, it's limitations (64gb flash hard drive) and ram, it will have a very short lifespan for duty, if it even gets that chance.

while sketchbook pro is a decent program, who is going to really do anything outside of fingerpaint without a stylus?
i don't see corel, adobe or other companies rewriting their apps for ipad, they really haven't for iphone, so where is the motivation.

for photographers? the 64gb drive isn't even as big as the smallest aperture library someone that really uses aperture has. even if they did offer a Lite version, would it really be beneficial? most photographers are going to be shooting raw, and i don't see the processor, ram or hard drive space handling it at all. for a hobby or toy photographer on vacation, maybe, but it's gotta have an interface, not a dock.

my hope was we would get an osx based machine capable of light editing and photo work. how cool would it be to use gestures in logic or final cut.

instead, we get a toy. not saying it's not neat, but it sure isn't groundbreaking. it's just bigger.
who knows, maybe this opens the door for an ipad pro, which can actually be used for real work, or open the door to more touch systems.

it's a start.

i just don't see it like some of you do, that it's the most amazing thing just because apple made it. i think they could have done better, could have offered more.

i have to agree with Bill Gates on this one. i'm a huge apple fan and user, but i'm also realistic.
it's funny that so many people here find it on themselves to attack what Bill Gates said just because it's not towing the apple line.
it's just his opinion.

Totally agree. I read these threads daily but more often than not, or so it seems, my eyes glaze over and I drift away. What's the point? We all know who the real trolls are. Just get rid of them. It will make this forum a better place. There are plenty places for them to go. For repetitive juvenile Mac v PC rants Cnet is awesome. I am tolerant, really..., there are plenty borderline cases here I wouldn't miss for a second.

Just for kicks, Dvorak on the iPhone. Behold the bloated gasbag in March 2007:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/app...-on-the-iphone

"The hype over the unreleased iPhone has actually increased over the past month despite the fact that nobody has seen or used the device. This, if nothing else, proves the power of branding and especially the power of brand loyalty."

"It's the loyalists who keep promoting this device as if it is going to be anything other than another phone is a crowded market. And it's exactly the crowded market aspect of this which analysts seem to be ignoring".

"The problem here is that while Apple can play the fashion game as well as any company, there is no evidence that they can play it fast enough. These phones go in an out of style so fast that unless Apple has half a dozen variants in the pipeline, its phone, even if immediately successful, will be passé within 3 months."

"What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it's smart it will call the iPhone a 'reference design' and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures.

"It should do that immediately before it's too late. Samsung might be a candidate. Otherwise I'd advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you'll see."

No, Steve Ballmer is a 'Marketing Guy'. Steve Jobs was and is VERY involved in the designing of Apple's products. His vision of how products should look and act touches everything his company puts out. There are also Apple patents with his name on it.

I would argue that Jobs is more of a 'Design Guy' but that is still as dismissive as the original poster.

And Bill Gates didn't create DOS, he stole it to sell to IBM. This is history.

Honestly, I don't think I would go on record saying anything about a comptetitor's product. The chances of it biting you in the ass are too great. Bill "640K is all anyone will ever need" and "tablets will be the most popular form factor in 5 years" Gates should know this by now.

Bill doesn't see anything impressive. Noted. It seems that few see its potential.

Yeah? Like what? What will it "become" that a "laptop could never be"?

I realize that iSteve made the claim that it can do things better than any laptop, but he didn't give a single example.

What are the examples of this?

People are ignoring him because he has a history of being very wrong when envisioning the future. One can just look at Microsoft's attempts to bring these visions to market to see that. Tablet PCs and SPOT watches make it yet?

The problem with capacitance touchscreens is the sensor resolution. The iPhone has a well working algorithm that takes multiple points of contact and determines the precise point you're trying to touch. Unfortunately, those algorithms don't work as well as the number of contact points go down.

You will never be able to "draw" or write with a stylus on the current iPhone and iPod Touch screens the way you can on a resistive touchscreen. You'll get the zigzagged lines you see on other capacitance touchscreen devices with inferior targeting algorithms.

That's the problem, and a capacitance stylus isn't the solution. The solution is a capacitance touchscreen with a per-pixel resolution, which does not currently exist.

I agree that the AppleTV has been a success in the nascent and lackluster media extender market but things have changed since it's arrival and the AppleTV has not. This last year the popular PS3, 360 and TiVo have stepped up their game to offer a lot of the features the AppleTV came with. Popcorn Hour and other media extenders are becoming popular, for good reason.

Unless you specifically want iTS access the AppleTV now offers little benefit over these other appliances. They aren't as simple as the AppleTV but the AppleTV fails in other areas they excel in. Favour is tipping toward them more each day.

I expect Apple to release another AppleTV this year. They can't drop the living room and the current model is using some old tech. The iPad's HW and OS (not the UI) looks like a pretty good and inexpensive fit for the next AppleTV.

I'd like to see an SDK for apps and an option for direct file access but I am not holding my breath on either of these.

If that's what was happening, it might be "funny." I don't think it's necessarily fun and games to point out that tablet computing is something Gates has taken a couple of swings and awful misses at. It's all well and good for him to say that tablet computing the future, and he really, really believes in it. But when he's the head of the world's most powerful technology company, which after a decade of trying has utterly failed to fulfill that vision, then I think it's totally appropriate to point that out, especially when he sees so fit to criticize Apple's approach. Maybe he's afraid that Apple will succeed where Microsoft has failed?

I love that Gates's reaction to the iPhone is that "Microsoft didnt aim high enough." That's almost like saying, "Oh yeah, we could have done that ... (yawn) ... we just didn't feel like it."

Never mind having the user-centric vision to create a beloved device, the technical skill to make it work, and the cool factor to make people want it. Cause, you know, Microsoft has all of that covered.

The Windows interface is one of the most successful ever. Would you want it on a tablet? If not, how does your argument make sense?

I have no need for newness that I am aware of, unless the newness yields an improvement of some sort. The 'Pad is new, for example, and yet that doesn't compel me to like it, because it doesn't seem to do anything (that I want to do) better than my existing choices.

And yes, the built-in army of app-buyers seems to be the reason why Apple chose to recycle the iTouch OS. The 'Pad is perfect for linking folks to the iSore.

But as a net-surfing and media consumption and computing appliance, it leaves a lot to be desired. Meh. I'll wait for someone else to do it right.