Apple CEO Tim Cook does not mince his words in a Bloomberg post-iPhone 5S/C launch interview-- asked on the current state of the mobile industry, Cook at one point remarks "everybody is trying to adopt Apple’s strategy."
"It wasn’t that long ago that people thought it was an absolutely ludicrous strategy to try to do hardware and software... They thought it was crazy," he continues before pointing out the Windows/Intel model of hardware making has, by now, "ran its course."
One has to admit Cook makes a very interesting point. After all, why else would Google buy Motorola Mobility, or Microsoft acquire Nokia? The two companies might insist everything is hunky dory when it comes to hardware partners, but one cannot deny the advantages of being able to finely mesh hardware and software design together-- or believe OEMs are truly happy with the current situation.
In further talk on the mobile market Cook states the mobile market is "even more a two-operating-system world," if one where Android faces the "growing problem" of fragmentation. Cook considers the various Android variants (such as what Android or Samsung do with the software) as separate operating systems-- a piece of mathematics allowing him to declare "more people [are] using iOS 6 than there is any version of Android" before iOS 7 grows into the most popular OS around.
"Does a consumer that’s buying a Kindle think about it being an Android? Probably not," the Apple CEO asks.
Speaking of iOS 7, Cook insists the latest update is less about change for change's sake and more "making things better." He also waxes poetic on the "forward-looking technology" inside the 5S, the iPhone 5C'c colour plastic casing and how only Apple cares for details of the buttons and finish variety.
Moving on to tablets, Cook unsurprisingly has few kind words on Android models ("if I bought [an Android tablet] and used it, and I thought that was a tablet experience, I’m not sure I would ever buy another tablet"), not to mention the non-Mac PC market ("not a great world to be in right now").
The interview concludes with talk on the growing low-end market, one Apple still has little to no interest in (even if the iPhone 5C arguably pokes in that general direction). "I refuse to be driven by a blind ambition of unit share" Cook says. "It happens in every market that I’ve seen. Every single market. It happens in cars. It happens in all CE, from cameras to PCs to tablets to phones to—- in the old world—- VCRs and DVDs."
