Comments on: Melinda Gates admits to having iPhone envy

In a recent interview with Vogue, Melinda Gates says that the Gates children aren't allowed to have iPods or iPhones--but she "acknowledges the inevitable lure of the forbidden fruit."

[Renegade Knight]

It's a loyalty thing. You support your own.
There is merit though to someone trying out the competitors product. You have to do this or lose ground. Apple didn't come out with the iPhone by copying what the other guys did or buyring their head in the sand. They instead figured out what the competition did and what they didn't do and then did it all (mostly) better.

[vicmatskiv]

iPhone? I bet his kids are using something like Vertu :)

[ubnyan]

"Every now and then, I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'"
--Melinda Gates

Take that Bill Gates :)
Melinda: Bill, could I have an iPhone?
Bill: Yes dear. (head down heading to Apple store)

[dragonbite]

Am I bad because my kids don't have any Apple products? *gasp*!

Get a life.

[Constable Odo]

If Bill Gates let Apple products into his house, the damn house would be filled with Apple products. OSX iMacs, iPhones, iPod Touchs. His family would have more Apple products than Microsoft products. Even Bill's family is smarter than he is. He's scared crapless that his family might like Apple products. What a laugh. At least they know quality when they see it. Rich or not, I'm sure those Gate's kids are still being laughed at because they're forced to carry a Zune while even the poor kids have iPods. Hell, everybody has iPods, even the homeless people use them.

Bill Gates children should buy whatever products they like. Microsoft makes software products for Apple, and Apple Intel computers certainly run Windows. So Bill could allow a Mac into his house that also runs his company's products.

What sensible person would ever choose a Zune over an iPod? Imagine having all that money and then being forced to use a crappy product. What kind of sense does that make? It doesn't matter if they can have a Ferrari, a Lambo and a Porsche. If they can't buy Apple products, then what's the point of living. Their own father is stopping them from having the BEST of everything. Now the kids are forced to sneak into a closet or go to their friends house to use Apple products.

Steve wouldn't have to worry about anyone in his family using a Zune or a WinMo phone. For all intents and purposes, those products suck. It's like expecting someone to willingly use sandpaper to wipe their behinds.

lol. Fanboy much?

[pithenumber]

hello fanboy

[FSUJD524]

....wow. I'm a big Apple fan and even I feel ashamed of his blind ignorance and fanboy-esque behavior. It's a simply conflict of interest for senior staff, I'm sure Steve urges the same behavior in his household and to his own senior staff. Don't be so closed minded

[monkeyfun14]

My 8gb zune does a hell of alot more then your ipod lol...

Wireless Sync
Wireless Marketplace
Sharing
FM

[therobot]

kind of like a NY Yankees fan coming home in Red Sox attire. No wait it really isn't that serious.

[gigo1000]

The Gates offered their kids a choice between a Ferrari and an iPod. Melinda's got envy because...well, I can't imagine why she has envy. It must be hell to have all the money you could ever want and be afraid to spend it on something you want because of appearances.

[t8]

All the money in the world and they can't have the best. Ironic.

[monkeyfun14]

Who the hell claimed iPhone as the best?

The product more then looks is a utter piece of garbage.

WinMo phones offer alot more function in the business world

[daedbird]

I am sure that whenever MS introduces their ZunePhone, or whatever the blank its called, Bill Gates will come back and make reference to this quote, then talk about how they went and improved on every aspect of what a phone should be, including cut and paste. It would show some human emotion, and create a whole lot of buzz.....I really do think that quote wasn't an accident at all

[zvonr]

Microsoft developed an Iphone app, Seadragon Mobile for the iPhone... So I guess the Iphone is not something impossible to find in Redmond...

[CDubber]

Poor Melinda. All the money in the world, and she has to use Windows Mobile. *shudder*

Sorry Gates kids: no Wii, iPods, or iPhones for you!

(Someone call Child Protective Services).

[deecee]

There're TONs of alternatives to iPhone/iPod, that's not even an issue. I don't have an IPhone or iPods and do it by choice without Mr. or Mrs. Gates's prompting.
Hey, I can think a lot of worse thing than being a heir to a billion dollar empire and the only catch is not to have an iPhone.
Heck, if I get too depressed about that iPhone, I'd ask dad for a new convertible Porsche 911 as a "pick-me-upper", with wind in my hair on the open highway, I am sure I will feel better soon...

[Angmarr]

Good for the Gates's hopefully their kids will grow up with some common scene like NOT TO BUY overpriced flashy JUNK

[Brian]

It's okay, they can always buy a 2nd rate product - you know, the Zune.

[monkeyfun14]

2nd rate?

Last time I checked the Zune had more features then a iPod

Im talking about the normal ones not the touch

[KJC4LIFE]

THE GATES FAMILY DOES NOT NEED APPLE PRODUCTS IN THEIR HOME. THEY DON'T HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS MOST PEOPLE WOULD HAVE WITH MICROSOFT PRODUCTS. SINCE HE IS THE FOUNDER, HIS FAMILY HAS TOP NOTCH STUFF. THINGS WE THE PUBLIC WOULD NEVER GET OUR HANDS ON. THEY PROBABLY HAVE THE NEXT GEN XBOX, ZUNE, WINDOWS 7, WINDOWS MOBILE 7 AND WHAT ELSE HIGH TECH GADGETS ANS SOFTWARE YOU CAN THINK OF. SO DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR THEM. THEY HAVE ACCESS TO UNLIMITED GADGETS THAT WILL ACTUALLY BE BUG FREE.

[FSUJD524]

Apparently putting everything in caps makes you're point more valid?

[FSUJD524]

With Bill being in the position he's in it would be a huge conflict of interest. End of story. I'm sure Steve Jobs doesn't have certain Microsoft products in his household and urges his senior staff to do the same. It would just be too big of a PR stink to allow that.

[Dalkorian]

Amazing how many people seem to have missed the obviousness of this (think of the TMZ episode that showed the Gates' kids with iPods!) and yet how few people have made the obvious comment about the Gates' kids squirting all over each other at school.

:-D

[Llib Setag]

The " VOGUE " interview with Melinda " Office Party " Gates about Apple devices & keeping the kiddies "normal"...

Forget about this article because it is NOT news.
Ballmer doesn't allow Apple or Google in his house either...big deal.
This article gets the BIG DUH! award for the obvious.

What bothers me is these UBER celebrity nuevo riche people who always are saying "we want our children to grow up normal".

BS! When you live in the largest mansion on Lake WA., go to the uber private Medina WA schools & have security, butlers, maids, drivers, etc.....YOU ARE NOT NORMAL!

You want to be normal?
Give ALL of you money to charity, give your mansion to the needy or church organization, sell all your stocks & go get a normal job, live in a normal house with a mortgage you are struggling to pay for & have your children go to public schools.

THAT IS NORMAL.

YOU are rich powerful people, stop with the fake humility & trying to be "one of the Joe Six Packs"...

pathetic.

[darkpoet25]

I agree with you 100% on your comment.

[GibsonSG]

Did you hear about all the layoffs at Pepsi? Apparently a few hundred employees tested positive for Coke.

[AnIm8Ed9933]

Are you kidding me? Bill and Melinda are the only two that have WORKING versions of Windows Mobile, they have the ultimate phones...