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Tim Cook: 'Android is Like Europe', Many Different Things Under One Name

"Europe was a name that somebody came up with for Americans who didn't understand that Europe was a lot of countries that weren't like U.S. states''

And he seems to be one of those very Americans who don't know what Europe is... The word Europa was first used some 2000 years BEFORE Colombo even landed in America (oh and Tim, you know that the name of your very country and continent is from another Italian guy right, Amerigo Vespucci, because we Europeans needed a name for those of us "who didn't understand that the new world was a place that wasn't like ours"...)

Instead of spouting somewhat insulting and ignorant nonsense you should concern yourself about getting your house in order, and fast, because if anything it's Apple that is like Europe: headed towards irrelevance (and I am saying this as a European).
 
laurim said:
People on the internet are there mainly to find something to be irrationally angry about. All he said was Android is a grouping of basically unique products (countries) united by an overall OS name (like "Europe") versus Apple and Windows which are totally independent. Just a rather clumsy analogy to comment about Android fragmentation. Nothing more, nothing less.

I didn't know a Kindle was an Android device so Cook's right.
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It's not so much his actual words but their implications.

In reality, we know that Tim Cook on behalf of Apple thinks Android is ****!

As a result, comparing this shi**y company with the European Union can easily be misunderstood.

Very poorly chosen words.
 
ChazUK said:
Image
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I think he meant that to be identified by the continent..Its like saying " such and such person is from europe"..vs " he is from Spain"...I'm pretty sure that's what he meant..but feel free to run away and make a 1000 forum posts on this issue :)

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osx11 said:
It's not so much his actual words but their implications.

In reality, we know that Tim Cook on behalf of Apple thinks Android is ****!

As a result, comparing this shi**y company with the European Union can easily be misunderstood.

Very poorly chosen words.
Click to expand...

He said it purely in the context of it being a product differently "applied" by different OEM's...
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Personally I don't think this is a big deal. Sure, he could have chosen his words better, but I highly doubt he was intentionally trying to piss off an entire continent.
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A poor analogy for sure. His broader point about iOS/Android not being the same as Mac/Windows is accurate. And how many people used Windows PCs as their personal computers because it's what they used at work and were familiar with. With BYOD that's changing. The other day my work PC was unavailable due to an error with a Windows 7 migration. Using my iPad and connecting to the company wifi I was able to access the company intranet, attend several webex meetings, access my Exchange email and update several PowerPoint presentations using Keynote. I was able to be quite productive not using a Windows PC.
 
Diesel79 said:
Apple need to bring out larger screen iPhones with leading tech inside them. If they don't you can laugh at Android all you want but it will be the final nail in iPhones coffin.
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Final nail? :eek: When did the first nail even come in? :rolleyes:

MacRumors has some of the most melodramatic posters on the internet. :D
 
RedOrchestra said:
Apple sold all those extra products for naught. At the end of the day, what did they have to show for it all, declining margins and flat profits - NOT a blueprint to go forward on.

I wonder if that red chair Cook has been sitting in was designed by Jony, Jony likes red.
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Funny how people complaining about declining margins and flat profits also complain that Apple products are overpriced.

If only Apple would make super cheap phones for "emerging markets", then their margins and profits would go sky high.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Personally I don't think this is a big deal. Sure, he could have chosen his words better, but I highly doubt he was intentionally trying to piss off an entire continent.
Click to expand...

Tim Cook:

Android = ****!

"Europe is like Android"

Therefore, it is logical to conclude that

Europe = ****!

------------

*He of course never actually said this but this explains why some here are offended.*
 
2992 said:
Same goes when people are saying America, and they are actually referring to the US, right?
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Or when they say United States to refer to USA, because they are not the only ones (maybe in English)
 
Apple need to bring out larger screen iPhones with leading tech inside them. If they don't you can laugh at Android all you want but it will be the final nail in iPhones coffin.
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Yup, iPhone sales have come to a trickle and we hardly see anyone buying them anymore...And its really funny when we compare Apple phones to ANDROID (software) instead of other phones. an iOS and Android comparison would only be valid if apple actually sold any software. Apple is not a software company, and does not make any money selling its software to different OEM's around the world. Software for them is only a product that goes into their devices...BTW the iPhone is the highest selling cellphone in the world..and each version has had that crown since the first.
 
organerito said:
What about this one?

When I was studying in the USA, someone asked me if we had the moon in my country.

I have many of them!

P.S. I also met many intelligent people while in the USA
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I once had a conversation with a woman who was very rude to me about my English, when I explained to her that I spoke English as I was from England she would not believe that America had not invented English.

Again I have met many intelligent Americans on my many visits.

Sadly though saying that Europe was named to help Americans is possibly a slight on the general geographical knowledge of Americans?
 
osx11 said:
Tim Cook:

Android = ****!

"Europe is like Android"

Therefore, it is logical to conclude that

Europe = ****!

------------

*He of course never actually said this but this explains why some here are offended.*
Click to expand...

I prefer:

Europe = good!

"Europe is like Android"

Therefore, it is logical to conclude that

Android = good!

So, instead of Europeans dumping iPhones, now Android is promoted around the world by Apple.
 
Goftrey said:
That's the worst analogy I've ever heard in my life.
Click to expand...

Not really. It's pretty apt, particularly if he's using "Europe" as a metonomy for EU countries. In some respects, the EU functions much the same way the federal government does here. In other respects, the EU is but a facade on top of 27 independent countries each doing their own thing. The EU presents itself as a "common market" (its original purpose), but it's a lot easier to treat the US as a "single" economic market than it is the EU. Each of the 27 member states has a different culture, many have their own language, and there are greater differences in the law.

That's Cook's point about Android. Yes, "Android" has a large market share, but it's difficult to say that a $100 phone running Android 2.2 is part of the same "ecosystem" as a Galaxy S4 or Nexus 5.
 
autrefois said:
Yes, he's going to regret saying that, if he doesn't already. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes when they speak off the cuff, but that's kind of a doozy.

Besides being a pretty bad analogy, it's an unflattering one. Comparing a union of 28 countries, which combined represent one of your biggest (if not the biggest) customer bases in the world, to your competitor in a disparaging way ("crappy") is NOT the way to win over customers or increase market share.

Depending on how the media play this, I can see this making big headlines and people getting offended (in my opinion, somewhat justifiably) by this.

Android does NOT need any help at this point and hopefully he can "walk back" the statement a little somehow to lessen the damage. Or hopefully it will go away quietly. We'll see.
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I think EU was formed to have enough economical power against US and other fast growing economies. So yeah, 28 countries combined to represent themselves as one against one big one.
 
KPOM said:
Not really. It's pretty apt, particularly if he's using "Europe" as a metonomy for EU countries. In some respects, the EU functions much the same way the federal government does here. In other respects, the EU is but a facade on top of 27 independent countries each doing their own thing. The EU presents itself as a "common market" (its original purpose), but it's a lot easier to treat the US as a "single" economic market than it is the EU. Each of the 27 member states has a different culture, many have their own language, and there are greater differences in the law.

That's Cook's point about Android. Yes, "Android" has a large market share, but it's difficult to say that a $100 phone running Android 2.2 is part of the same "ecosystem" as a Galaxy S4 or Nexus 5.
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This !

But remember, the comment was made for the average business reader, reading the WSJ..Hardly for it be dissected to death by news/rumor hungry forum members such as myself :D
 
F apple FE said:
"Europe was a name that somebody came up with for Americans who didn't understand that Europe was a lot of countries that weren't like U.S. states''

And he seems to be one of those very Americans who don't know what Europe is... The word Europa was first used some 2000 years BEFORE Colombo even landed in America (oh and Tim, you know that the name of your very country and continent is from another Italian guy right, Amerigo Vespucci, because we Europeans needed a name for those of us "who didn't understand that the new world was a place that wasn't like ours"...)

Instead of spouting somewhat insulting and ignorant nonsense you should concern yourself about getting your house in order, and fast, because if anything it's Apple that is like Europe: headed towards irrelevance (and I am saying this as a European).
Click to expand...

I think you are taking his words too literally. I'm sure he knows "Europe" as a name for a continent is centuries old. But culturally, calling someone "European" is a lot less precise than calling someone "American." It's the same with Android. That's not to say that Europe is better or worse. It's just different. Apple doesn't compete will all of Android. It's biggest competitor happens to use Android, but that's a big difference.
 
Apple is like North Korea. You never know what they are about to do and they always think they're right.

/s

Go :apple:!
 
Is Cook telling me that because Europe is so awesome, I should sell my Apple mobile devices and buy Android?

Seriously, I get what he is saying, but am not particularly enthused by the connotations of what he said.

And the line about Europe being called Europe for the benefit of Americans to have something to call us is off the chart man, off the freaking chart.
 
Well, some Android phones are just superior to iPhones. My LG G2 for instance. Best phone I've ever owned after coming from an iPhone. Why you ask? Because I can customize everything on it, and it has widgets. I can see my stocks without opening an app. I can change individual icons and even choose not to have all my icons on the screen. I can position them on the screen anywhere I want. I can download a Launcher and overhaul the entire screen and UI. Can iPhones do that? No.

But I have to admit, after returning 5 Windows laptops, Apple does make the best computers on the market, hands down. Why? I don't have to worry about Malware or viruses. Screen resolution is superior on MacBooks and Macs. I don't have to worry about downloading drivers. Windows machines always have some cosmetic, software, or hardware flaw... because they don't have the philosophy of making the best products in the world. On a Mac, everything just works. Assuming you don't get a defective product from the start.
 
'Android is Like Europe'
Maybe he ment to say:

Europe likes Android

Look at the EU5 v US smartphone sales number.
In most of Europe the iPhones is a distant second to Android, being chalenged for second place by WindowsPhone.
kantar_wp_jan14.png

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/27/iphone-share-strong-android-lead/
 
autrefois said:
Besides being a pretty bad analogy, it's an unflattering one. Comparing a union of 28 countries, which combined represent one of your biggest (if not the biggest) customer bases in the world, to your competitor in a disparaging way ("crappy") is NOT the way to win over customers or increase market share.
Click to expand...

I disagree. He wasn't disparaging Europe, or Samsung or Amazon with that comment. All he was saying is that asking Apple about its strategy for "competing with Android" is based on a false premise. It's like asking about setting a strategy for "selling products in Europe."

Apple isn't competing with "Android." It is competing with several very different companies making very different products that happen to be underneath a very big "Android" umbrella. Just as selling a product in Germany is very different from selling that same product in, say, the UK or France (different cultures, 3 different languages, 3 vastly different legal systems), even though they are all in "Europe" (and the EU, for that matter), it's also the case that competing against Samsung is different from competing against Amazon, even though they are both using "Android."
 
fermat-au said:
In most of Europe the iPhones is a distant second to Android, being chalenged for second place by WindowsPhone.
Click to expand...

That is Nokia nostalgia. The illusion is now over, with WP sales dropping.

Now it's time for BB10 to start getting traction with 10.2.1
 
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