Game Over: Bill Gates unimpressed by iPad

[shigzeo]

The richest software man in the world has nothing but the bad type of contempt for the iPad. 'Join the crowd' says I in my best dramatic TV policeman impersonation. But donning the trench coat ain't that easy. Gates was envious of the iPhone - and since Microsoft have never debuted a successful hardware line other than the XBox - but doesn't get the iPad.

Microsoft debuted their vision of tablet computing early in the decade to similarly uninterested folksies. The fact is that the format may not work. Apple have done the best thing: by introducing the iPhone OS to simply operation and streamline its uses, but will it work? Personally, I am impressed and await the actual debut. Maybe it will be a niche market, but I think Apple will make a success with the iPad.

Read more at BNET

[Mr. Charley]

I'm gonna have to completely agree with Bill on this one.
I too don't understand they hype over this iPad. Want to play on a big screen? Play your xbox360 or ps3 on your hdtv.
Want to use it as a laptop? GET A LAPTOP!
I completely fail to see why this iPad is "revolutionary" or anything special. I think it's really going to be defined by how it wants to be so many things, and by wanting to be so many things, does them all poorly, other than maybe an ebook reader, but big whoop (IMO).

So, I'm with Bill on this, and I guess only time will tell if this will be successful or not.

[aidan_ree]

I agree. I think it will be cumbersome other than for reading, playing some games or surf the net. Editing documents will be painful unless you can multitask. Laptop or even netbooks seems to handle that better.

[juubee]

I see the points of iPod touches and all that but I can't see it for the ipad....
Maybe after the release people will gush about how good it is and what all the cool stuff are.
But for now, I'm clueless to it's benefits.

[Aeaea]

Well if Bill is unimpressed enough to pan it -- then it must be junk! Remember all the other things Microsoft downplayed in the past? GUIs, internet browsers, etc... sheesh. I'm sure their vision will ring true this time too... ;-)

[shigzeo]

Again, I am on the 'think it is good' side. It isn't a revolution, but I think it will have its place, though my thoughts are that it will be a niche product rather than a successful innovation like the iPod touch. But Bill Gate's vision of success has proven (at least recently) quite the opposite of the truth.

[Nullroar]

This is the dilemma of provincial outlook.

Removing personal biases, we have to focus on factors that would contribute to success.

They main factors are:

Price, (R)Evolution, compatibility (both with existing software/infrastrcutre as well as with lifestyles), and a few others I am too tired to name (It's 3:34 A.M. and I am sick of grading papers).

The price is nothing that would propel it to mass acceptance (a la Model T), there is no significance technological advancement for the Ipad - nothing really groundbreaking, no new era that this would usher in, it seems to be much LESS convenient than an Iphone for many of the uses it has advertised as selling points, and the lack of true pocket-portability hurts more than helps (look no further than the massive success of the portable market, compared to the marked decline of the desktop and laptop market, in favor of "netbooks" and even smaller devices.

It seems like a lot of the same old bells and whistles on a bigger sleigh.

[Jim]

I see one advantage - it's cheaper than the iphone! My factory unlocked 3G costs around $600 now.
As for the tech side - it's crap, crap, crap. It COULD start a revolution, but it will not.
BTW, what's up with the screen resolution? 1024x768... It seems logical that it should be 960X640, or 1440X960 (X2 or X3 iphone screen res...) - that would make way more sense compatibility-wise...