Bill Gates praises Apple for its mobile payments service

You might be forgiven for thinking that all the major tech companies resent each other’s existence. Tim Cook’s criticism of Google’s trustworthiness — and Eric Schmidt’s somewhat patronizing dismissal of that criticism — suggest that not a kind word will pass from one tech leader to another. Bill Gates, however, operates on a more exalted plane these days. His charitable work has involved a relentless insistence on solving some of the world’s most vexing health and social problems. Interviewed by Bloomberg this week, Gates spoke at some length about getting more of the “unbanked” poor into the financial system. He was specifically asked about Apple Pay (at the 7:05 mark in the video), Cupertino’s new method for supposedly seamless and more secure mobile payments. “Apple Pay is a great example of how a cell phone that identifies its user in a pretty strong way lets you make a transaction that should be very, very inexpensive,” he said.