patrick.net

He wasn't a Succesful CEO, he drove Apple into the ground. He lucked out when Microsoft dropped the ball on building a low powered hand held computing device.
Every single bit of technology that was in the ipod and iphone had already been made by Microsoft and Rio.

Microsoft was trying to hard to fit the desktop start button and navigation along with the contextual menus into the CE units.
Apple was operating in the hole, so it created a slick design for an over glorified MP3 player and people had to have it.


Then they were able to follow up with iPhone. The iPhone was an exact realization of Bill Gates 2000 Comdex Keynote presentation, on his vision for the future of Windows DNA
fabric and the Internet.

But at Comdex in recent years, the PC has taken a back seat to the host of other products people are using these days to get connected. And a glance through this year's exhibitor list shows that the trend is continuing.

Although Gates did use the keynote to demonstrate some of Microsoft's latest PC-related software, including an upcoming version of Office and a prototype of a "tablet PC," his address centered on the changes that are taking place in the industry.

"We're at a very key transition point," Gates said. "There are going to be lots of devices, but a new model that makes them work together. It is going to require an architecture approach that is different than what we have today."

https://money.cnn.com/2000/11/13/technology/comdex_gates/

Tenpoundbass says

Apple was operating in the hole, so it created a slick design for an over glorified MP3 player and people had to have it.

Yep, I literally never got why that was such a big deal. "Iconic White earphones"?