Apple may be the largest tech firm in the world as of the last quarter, but perhaps Apple COO Tim Cook should remember that it wasn’t very long ago that Apple’s iOS dominated the market, only to be replaced by Google’s Android OS as the top selling operating system worldwide.
On news that the Apple iPad sold 7.33 million units last quarter Apple COO Tim Cook took some time to respond to questions about his company’s nearest competition, namely Microsoft And Google.
During a sales call Cook was asked “What About iPad Competitors?” to which he responded:
“There’s not much out there as you know. There are two kinds of groups today (in the market) — the ones using a Windows-based operating system. They’re big, heavy and expensive. Weak battery life. Need keyboard or stylus. From our point of view, customers aren’t interested in that. Then you have the Android tablets. The variety shipping today, the OS wasn’t designed for a tablet — but Google said this. So you wind up having the size of a tablet that’s less than reasonable. Or one that’s not even a real tablet experience. It’s a “scaled-up smartphone” – that’s a bizarre product in our view. Those are what is shipping today. If you do a side-by-side with an iPad, some enormous percentage are going to pick the iPad. We have no concern there. In terms of next generation. There’s nothing shipping yet. So I don’t know. “Today they’re vapor.” However, we’re not sitting still. We have a huge first-mover advantage. And a huge user advantage from iTunes to the App Store. Huge number of apps and an ecosystem. We’re very confident entering into a fight with anyone.”
Cook has a point in one respect, the Android OS on tablets shipped today were not meant for tablet-sized computers, then again, Google has never claimed that they were, in fact they specifically warned customers that waiting for newer OS version to arrive would be their best bet.
In reality, the openness of the Android OS should prove a benefit to the ever changing tablet market, not only can a stock version of the OS be used based on standardized hardware choices, but as we see with the mobile version of Android, it can also be developed to match the specifications of each hardware manufacturers own gadgets, allowing for a wide range of devices and uses to be discovered.
Cook also went on to call the devices “Scaled-up Smartphones” which is basically what the iPad is, so it’s kind of an odd choice of words.
Finally, Cook calls the iPad’s early entry into the market a huge “first-mover advantage” which again didn’t really matter all too much when Android burst onto the mobile phone scene.
Should Cook be confident when challenging his competitors? Of course he should, Apple has a user friendly product that low-end users and business users enjoy. However, Apple’s iPad has failed to kill the Kindle, in fact many iPad users have claimed in a recent report that they plan on buying a Kindle in the near future, while Android users have also been fiercely loyal to their operating system, which could help Google grab a large share of the tablet market once worthwhile tablet devices enter the fray.
What do you think? Are you ready to purchase a Google Android Tablet? As an Android users, I personally can’t wait for a worthwhile device with optimized tablet features to reach market. [via SlashGear ]
