Apple’s COO Bashes Android, Ignores Jobs' Health

Apple executives chose to say nothing about the future direction of Apple without Steve Jobs at the helm; instead COO Tim Cook spent some time bashing the Android operating system, just as Steve Jobs has done in the past.

Amid the news that Jobs will be taking an indefinite leave-of-absence, Apple reported another record quarter. The company's revenue hit $26.74 billion, well above the highest Wall Street estimates at about $25 billion. It posted $6 billion in profit, or $6.43 per share, compared to $3.38 billion, or $3.67 per diluted share a year ago.

Even with the widespread news about Jobs' health impacting the company's stock, Cook did not address the issue directly during a conference call with analysts. The closest anyone came to asking him anything about the company minus Jobs was a question about its long-term product roadmap.

Part of the magic of Apple is that we don't let anyone know about that magic because we don't want anyone copying it, Cook said in response to the question. He said the company is confident it has a lot of room to grow in its major product categories: the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac computer line.

During the call discussing the results, Cook ended up taking a page from Jobs' book when discussing Apple's biggest competitor in the smartphone operating system space: Google's Android. Back in the fourth quarter call, Jobs took the spotlight by calling Google's calling the Android/iOs debate a matter of open and closed, disingenuous.

When asked how he felt about Android, Cook responded similarly. We fundamentally believe our integrated approach delivers a far superior product than their fragmented approach. Integrated takes out the complexity, rather than making the end user the integrator themselves, Cook said.

Cook said with the Android approach; there are too many devices, app stores and updating methodologies. He said the iOS gets updated far more often than the other operating systems because it doesn't have to contend with that.

He also ripped into a few of Apple's biggest competitors in the world of tablets. He said the existing tablets -- besides the iPad -- are running cumbersome Windows-based systems or Android versions that weren't designed specifically for that kind of device. He said the Android tablets are scaled-up smartphones. It's a bizarre product in our view, he said.

During the call, Cook also said the company is happy to be working with Verizon on delivering the iPhone 4. He said even with an expected high amount of orders, and significant backlog, Apple will do everything possible to get the product into Verizon customer's hands. He also said Apple was thrilled to sign a multiyear non-exclusive agreement with AT&T.