During Apple’s Q4 2009 financial results conference call today, when asked about competitive smartphone platforms and devices, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook responded:

Frankly, they are really just trying to catch up with the 1st iPhone that was announced 2 years ago

While many will no doubt argue — perhaps laugh outright — at that, it’s harder to laugh at Apple’s results to date: 7.2 million more iPhones sold in the last 3 months, and half-a-billion more App Store downloads during the same period.

So was Cook just showing his swagger, setting himself up for a big takedown, or comfortably settling into a combined iPhone/iTunes/App Store offering his thinks will be tough to beat in the consumer market?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

COOh-Snap: Apple Competitors Still Trying to Catchup to Original 2007 iPhone 2G

Also covered on today’s Apple Q2 2009 financial results call were Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook’s description of netbooks, as currently on the market, having:

cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience… that we would put the Mac brand on, quite frankly.

So where does that put all the rumors about an Apple netbook being all but imminent? Either once again shoved on the back burner like the iPhone nano, or — really imminent. (Apple has a history of trash talking product spaces and denying interest right up until they launch their own offering, like video on iPods, or, you know, smartphones).

Does this mean we’ll more likely see an Apple tablet? Mac OS X or iPhone OS X based? Opinions vary but Cook gave nothing away. Instead, to costumers who might want mobile web and email, he offered this advice:

They might want to look at an iPhone or iPod touch instead.

Okay, so I’ll admit that I leave my laptop at home now and just use an iPhone far more often than I ever would have guessed I would, but as a full on mobile replacement? Is it really there yet?

And what do you see, if anything, as Apple’s now near-mythical entry into the pseudo-netbook space? One of the above, or something else entirely?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Says Netbooks Cramped, Terrible, Junky, Not Mac-Worthy — Buy an iPhone Instead!

Apple COO Tim Cook, CFO Peter Openheimer, and Marketing VP Phil Schiller gave an analyst briefing recently, according to Barron’s, which said, among other things:

• The trio was “most bullish about the iPhone business,” seeing a chance to gain share, with its software as the principal differentiator.
• In iPods, Apple is pushing the iTouch, which benefits from its ties to the App Store.
• Sacconaghi says the company does not appear to be pursuing his idea of an “iPhone Nano,” and that any new phones will likely include both a browser and ties to the App Store.
• Apple said “emphatically” that it did not believe in fixed keypads for phones, since the touch screen provided more flexibility for alternative keypads and for various App Store offerings, and that it is portable across geographies and languages, providing significant scale economics.

So there we have it, software is king, the nano is a no-no, and the hard keyboard just ain’t happening.

(Thanks to The Reptile for sending this in!)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Says iPhone Bullish, iPhone nano and Hard Keyboards Just Bull

Also touched on briefly during Apple’s Q1 conference call yesterday was the prospect of a low-end iPhone, and Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook was quick to dispel hopes of that (and of an iPhone nano?) as well (text via Macworld):

Tim: We’re not going to build a low-end voice phone. Our objective is not to be unit share leader, it’s to build the world’s best phone.

Interestingly, however, Apple is still pondering what to do about unsubsidized markets (where, unlike AT&T, the carriers don’t foot part of the phone cost, making it initially much more expensive for buyers):

Largest example is India. Sales less in non-subsidized markets, obviously. Huge market opportunities and will make adjustments in future to play in a stronger way.

So what does this mean? No iPhone nano or iPod with phone features bolted on, it seems. But how will Apple increase sales in those non-subsidized countries? a 4GB SKU? Or when the iPhone hits 32GB, will the 8GB become a special SKU for those markets? Maybe if we get an iPhone HD this summer, the 3G itself will become that SKU?

The again, Apple is famous for denying (even bashing) things until the moment they release them…

Our forums are weighing in, so head on over there and let us know what you think!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Defuses iPhone nano Rumors?

[Updated following Phone Different Podcast #19, see below!]

Way back in February, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook said:

“We’re not married to any business model.”

At the time — and it’s scary how long ago it seems already — the iPhone was only available in the US, UK, Germany, and France, with rumors of Ireland and Austria waiting in the wings. What’s more, these were all exclusive deals, with Apple doing their best to lock the iPhone down to single carriers in each territory in exchange for lucrative — and unprecedented — revenue-sharing deals that some have estimated could be netting Apple up to $15 per month, per subscriber.

So, with a potential billion dollars on the table, while they weren’t married to it, they no doubt felt more than a little lusty.

But in true Apple fashion, invoking perhaps the pirate mantra of old, and embracing the same mindset that has them run iTunes as a near-loss leader, price-cut the iPhone a scant few months in, and offer cheap family upgrade options on their OS and iApps, it looks like Tim Cook was serious.

Read on to find out just how serious he was…

Late April brought rumblings of carrier “discounts” in Europe. Apple claimed carriers could charge what they wanted. Pundits on various sides pointed to clearing stock in the face impending 3G, or desperation to nudge thus-far-disappointing sales.

Then the floodgates opened. Literally. What had been a scant 5 countries with official first generation iPhone deals, became a torrent of announcements, week after week, of dozens upon dozens more. Canada. Australasia. Africa. Latin America. The Middle East. Scandinavia and the Baltics. And more. Double, triple, quadruple, the numbers became near-exponential.

The strange part? Multiple carriers began announcing iPhone deals in the same countries or territories. Vodafone and Telecom Italia both claimed Italy in early May.

Carrier exclusivity was gone.

No doubt at Apple’s behest, press releases were short to the point of single sentences at times, all with the promise of more details to follow, but Orange did let slip that there would now be non-exclusive deals (where no carrier had the sole rights to the iPhone and any GSM provider could theoretically support it), and co-exclusivity (where two or more carriers had sole rights and only they could officially support it).

Orange didn’t stop there either. Rumor has it they are now calling up existing iPhone customers and offering them €50 upgrade paths to the next generation iPhone 3G. Talk about a subsidy!

So why, with so much money at stake — and let’s face it, cachet — are Tim Cook’s words suddenly ringing so loudly?

Steve Jobs has said that one of Apple’s greatest failings during his absence was that other leadership chose to grab for money rather than grow market share. And Steve Jobs is known to think about products and positioning years into the future.

Our own Dieter Bohn has teased some of his thoughts on this, and promises to follow up on the next Phone Different Podcast. Don’t miss it.

UPDATE: Dieter, having brainstormed with another one of our writers, Chad Garrett, is offering the following: Given the massive amount of carriers now announced for the iPhone 3G, managing activation via iTunes may get a lot tricker… unless Apple offers the iPhone unlocked, and iTunes simply provides a way to connect to one of the established carriers in exchange for a subsidy, or — dream of all dreams — lets you keep running unlocked if you’re willing to forgo said subsidy. How’s that for a new business model?

For my part, I’ll mention this again:

Apple is alone among modern technology companies in enjoying near spherical integration. They make the iPhone hardware. They develop its software. They provide .Mac services. They market pro-level content creation tools. They own the high-end computer market that runs those — and the developer — tools. They sell content via the #1 music retailer in the US, iTunes. They have a toe in the accessory business with a headset, docks, cables, etc. They license 3rd party accessories. They get revenue sharing on subscriptions from current carriers. They are about to launch an App Store, getting a cut of commercial sales in exchange for putting product in front of every single iPhone user on the planet. They have an international online store, and their growing chain of retail Apple Stores make more per square foot than Tiffany’s.

So, unlike many others who have to survive on platform licenses, hardware margins, service contracts, or any other single or small number of profit streams, Apple can choose to take hits in multiple streams (like revenue sharing) and still earn money hand over fist in many, many others.

In short, Apple isn’t married to any specific business model because they can afford not to be. And come WWDC in June, and the long expected iPhone 3G announcement with it, Apple’s plans may just result in a windfall for consumers as well…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple’s New iPhone Business Models

Tom Cook, Chief Operating Officer of a little Cupertino company named Apple, spoke at the Goldman Sachs Investment Symposium, mercilessly teasing the faithful with the following bombs:

• Apple is not “married to any [single carrier exclusive] business model”. It’s apparently all about the “best phones in the world”, baby, and if unlocked, CDMA, and/or pre-paid proved, in the future, to provide the greatest sense of childlike wonder (or complies with future Congressional mandates), Apple could (possibly, maybe) go with that flow.
• Apple believes the global unlocking epidemic is a good sign of the iPhone’s potential, and that there will always be a percentage of unlocks in the wild because of the high demand.
• That the upcoming iPhone SDK would allow developers to “only be limited by [their] imagination.” (And whatever restrictions Apple imposes on accessing the metal and distributing via iTunes, ‘natch).

To the delight of Wall Street, Cook also continued to hold firm on the 10 million iPhone march through the end of 2008.

Check out Apple Insider for all the details.

Is Cook telling us Apple will make good on their promised smart phone utopia? Or Is he just cranking on his own mini Reality Distortion Field? Hit the comments and let us know what you think!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple COO Speaks: AT&T Exclusivity, SDK, and more…