Tim Cook Bashes Android: Apple Inc. CEO Says iPhones, iPads More Secure, Better For Business

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google announced its latest Android devices Tuesday, and Apple CEO Tim Cook wasted no time bashing the iPhone rival, saying the Apple iOS software is a better choice for business customers. "You want to pick the best product," Cook said, speaking at the BoxWorks conference. "That's the most important thing, but secondly you want something that has security in it from the start. No one wants to deal with a fragmented system. You want an ecosystem that's there. You want tools that are available to developers."

Cook's comments came as Google CEO Sundar Pichai and his team announced a duo of new Android smartphones and other new products just two miles south of the BoxWorks conference. For Apple, enterprise sales are now a $25 billion business, Cook said during his fireside chat with Box CEO Aaron Levie. "This is not a hobby. This is a real business," he said.

The Apple CEO also spoke about the company's partnership with IBM that was announced last year and its more recent alliance with Cisco. "This is all about giving a suite of applications to the enterprise so we can really change the way people work," Cook said. "You want to deal with somebody who works with the major players in the industry."

When it comes to the Apple TV, Apple Watch and Apple's enterprise efforts, Cook said those initiatives are in their early days. "It's like we’ve shown up for the race but it hasn’t started yet," Cook told Levie.

Cook touched on the company's iPhone 6S and 6S Plus sales, which topped 13 million units in their first weekend, and also announced iOS 9 has already been installed by more than 50 percent of capable iPhone and iPad devices. "It's more than 50 percent and it's only been on the market less than a week," Cook said. "This is incredible."

Among the few questions Cook declined to answer was when Levie asked, "Who's tougher to negotiate with: Taylor Swift or Carl Icahn?"

"Next question," Cook said with a laugh.