Keyboard lover Bill Gates mocks Apple iPad

Bill Gates has added his voice to the chorus of criticism that has accompanied the launch of Apple's tablet computer, the iPad.

The Microsoft founder told BNET: "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."

Gates contrasts his lukewarm feelings towards the iPad with his reaction to the 2007 launch of Apple's iPhone. "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'," he said.

"It's a nice reader, but there's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it'."

This last comment is faint praise indeed, since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has made a point of saying his own company is not interested in making an ereader.

Microsoft is, however, rumoured to be developing a tablet computer. This mysterious device, codenamed 'Courier', is the only other candidate besides the iPad for the title of 'game-changer' in the netbook market - a market derided by Apple CEO Steve Jobs last month as "clunky". The Courier project is in "incubation" - so a long way from going on sale - but there is speculation that a mid-2010 launch is still possible.

No actual photographs of a Courier exist, but as with the iPad there are plenty of computer generated artists' impressions (see video above). Rumours based on illustrations obtained by tech site Gizmodo indicate that the device will consist of two seven-inch colour touchscreens attached by a hinge, which will allow the screens to close against each other, like a book.

Despite Gates's insistence on the importance of keyboards in the netbook market, there is no sign of an external one on the Courier. Although the second screen could presumably double as a touch-sensitive keyboard. If not the most likely means of text input seems to be a relatively sophisticated stylus, which will include buttons to undo errors and switch between writing and drawing modes.

The Courier will probably perform many of the same functions as the iPad, but could well be more versatile. Features such as the 'Smart Agenda', which brings together emails, appointments and to-do lists, suggest the Courier is aimed at businesspeople, whereas the iPad has been dismissed by some as primarily an entertainment device.

The technophile community can look forward to months of speculation regarding the Courier. But Gates's comments, and the highly critical reception faced by the iPad in general, suggest the pressure is off Microsoft, which can now afford to take its time before releasing a tablet PC that is everything Apple watchers had hoped the iPad would be. ·