Choosing to remain silent for over the course of the entire year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs chose the occasion of its Q4 2010 Financial results to get back at competition. In a very untypical manner, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance at the conference call and had a few things to say regarding Google’s Android and about the current state of the Tablets market.
About Android
Taking a potshot at Google, which until recently said that they activate around 200,00 Android devices a day, Jobs clarified that Apple has been averaging activating around 275,000 handsets a day on average for the past 30 days. He also added that there is no tangible data regarding the total number Android handsets shipped. Jobs also added that he was waiting to see how many Android devices were sold in the last quarter.
Steve seems to have taken a note of how Google terms Android ro be an open platform as opposed to iOS which is termed “closed”. He used Windows as a comparison and said. “The first thing most of us think about when we hear the word ‘open’ is Windows, which is available on a variety of devices. Unlike Windows, however, where most PCs have the same user interface and run the same apps, Android is very fragmented. Many Android [manufacturers], including the two largest, HTC and Motorola, install proprietary user interfaces to differentiate themselves from the commodity Android experience. The user’s left to figure it out. Compare this to iPhone, where every handset works the same.”
Jobs also opines that Android is not a very appealing platform for App developers because of the the variety of Android versions and the difference in the kind of phones that use the OS. He cited the example of Tweet Deck (which he referred to as Twitter Deck) which had to support more than 100 versions of Android software on 244 different handsets. He also cited that unlike the centralized Apple App Store, Android handsets also have app stores managed by handset vendors – leading to more confusion.
On RIM BlackBerry
After Google, Steve Jobs turned his attention to RIM which according to him would never catch up with Apple in the foreseeable future. Jobs said. “They must move beyond their area of strength and comfort into the unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company. I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive platform and to convince developers to create apps for yet a third software platform, after iOS and Android… RIM has a high mountain ahead of them to climb.”
On Tablets
Turning his attention to the burgeoning tablet market, Jibs immediately indirectly clarified that we won’t be seeing a smaller 7 inch iPad that was being rumored. Instead he was quick to write off all smaller tablets by saying that they had only 45 percent the screen area of a 10-inch screen. Jobs claims that “The 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps” and added, “Every tablet user is also a smartphone user. No tablet can compete with a smartphone” when it comes to stashing it in a purse or pocket. “Seven-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad.”
He also added that Android 2.2 (Froyo) isn’t ready for Tablets yet – a fact which even Google has agreed to. He also went ahead to say that all current 7-inch tablets would be dead on arrival.
Overall, it was a very scathing attack at Apple’s very formidable rivals. Let’s see how Google, RIM and other affected parties gets back at Apple.
Interesting times lie ahead!
