Cnet reports today on an interview that Bill Gates has just given to Charlie Rose on PBS, during which he generally waxes lyrical about Microsoft’s newly announced Surface tablet, as you might expect, and also has to field the usual questions about Apple and that pesky little iPad tablet that is doing quite well. Speaking of the Surface, Gates said, “You don’t have to make a compromise. You can have everything you like about a tablet and everything you like about a PC all in one device. And so that should change the way people look at things.†Gates then went on to tell Rose that he got the idea of a tablet, “way too early,†which led Rose to ask him why was it that Steve Jobs and Apple were able to make a success of their tablet sooner. “He did some things better than I did,†said Gates, mentioning timing, specifically, and “the package that he had put together.†Gates admitted that Microsoft’s tablets were not as “thin and attractive†as the iPad, but said that the Surface lets you be creative in ways that the iPad does not. Rose asked Gates if he thought Apple would have to change, and come up with something more like the Surface, and Gates replied by saying that the market has yet to speak on the desirability or not of the Surface (it hasn’t even been released yet!), but it was “a strong possibility†that Apple might want to create something more Surface-like.
Source: Gates: Apple may have to make a Surface-like device | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
