01/16/2008, 2:40pm, EST
Wednesday, January 16thJobs on Android, Bill Gates, Kindle, cable cards
Although Apple is making an aggressive push into movie rentals and other fields it has not tried before, much of the electronics industry is still headed in the wrong path and misjudging its audience, company head Steve Jobs has said in a new interview with the New York Times. The executive particularly cautions that while the iPhone's own success is uncertain, Google may have unintentionally damaged its own efforts to influence the mobile world with the Android operating system by creating a conflict of interest where its own OS will compete against rivals who may also carry Google software.
"I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them," he says. "It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners."
Jobs also dismissed the Amazon Kindle as a fundamentally flawed product. As reading itself is on the decline, an attempt to turn around the book industry through a new e-book device will ultimately fail, according to the senior official. "It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore," he explains.
Likewise, the Apple official adds that his company is unlikely to branch into producing devices with CableCARD support even as it begins renting HD movies and continues to sell TV shows. The removable HDTV tuner format's market situation is said to currently be "loopy" and not truly connected to Apple's, which more closely resembles the DVD rental and sale format.
However, the executive also reserves compliments for outgoing Microsoft head Bill Gates, which has often been misperceived as a direct challenger. The retirement is "a significant event," Jobs says. "And I think [Gates] should be honored for the contributions he’s made,"
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I find this distressing and would hope that Steve would do something to stimulate interest in the written word, but in his critique of the Kindle he was factually correct to note that it's an industry in decline.
Man, what insight. And this from an objective point of view!
I don't buy his argument on Android, though. If Google has already achieved their goals, as he claims, then how can Android hurt them. And it only hurts them if companies are petty and refuse to play nicely because Google now dares get into their realm (oh, wait, that's Apple).
It couldn't be that Jobs feels threatened since Android is open and can be enhanced by many a different company, can it?
Btw, 4 million iphones sold and capturing 19% of the smart phone market doesn't sound like a fundamentally handicapped product to me. I bought one today so they can add me to the list of satisfied customers. I hope you'll enjoy your Kindle as much as I enjoy my iPhone.
Oh well. Maybe El Gato will make something along these lines...I hope.