When questioned about Google, who earlier this year announced a new Android phone to compete up against the iPhone Jobs said that
Apple didn't plan to take on Google in the search space.
He stated bluntly that
Apple had "no" plans to drop Google or its apps from the iPhone and that there wouldn't be retaliation by competing directly with Google's core search engines. The conversation recalled Jobs' well-known townhall meeting, where the executive accused Google of competing against
Apple without warning but implied he wouldn't retaliate on a one-for-one level.
"They [at Google] decided to compete with us," Jobs said. "We didn't go into the search business."
He provided more color for the situation and said that Google chief Eric Schmidt had never warned
Apple in advance about what would eventually become Android. When asked if he felt betrayed, he joked that it was a personal question. "My sex life is pretty good, how's yours?" he said.
One attendee who spoke about issues in the USA where AT&T is struggling to deliver iPhone coverage, asked Jobs about issues with making simple phone calls on an iPhone. "Somebody from
Apple is talking about that. You can bet we're doing everything we know how to do," Jobs says. While Jobs admits network issues are not his area of expertise, he's told things get worse before they get better. "If you believe that, things will be getting a lot better soon," Jobs said, generating laughs from the crowd.
When asked about his vision for social gaming, Jobs says the iPhone and iPod Touch created a new class of games, a subset of casual gaming and approaching console gaming in sophistication and graphics. Jobs says he didn't intend to compete with
Sony or
Nintendo -- makers of the PlayStation Portable and DS respectively -- but now are doing so. "We take them seriously," says Jobs.
The session concluded after a question about navigation and set top boxes. The attendee asked Jobs whether TV will escape the up/down, left/right methods of navigating for content. Jobs says the problem with innovation in the TV industry is market strategy with a subisdised business model that gives everyone settop boxes for free or a small monthly fee. And Jobs adds nobody is willing to buy a settop box, just ask Tivo ,
Roku or "Google in a few months." Jobs says only way it will change it to go back to settop box and go back to scratch.Speaking about privacy, Jobs says it's an issue
Apple takes "extremely seriously." He cites the example of a location-based app that always asks users whether they want to use location data each time. "We do a lot of things like that to ensure people understand what these apps are doing. A lot of people in the Valley think we're really old-fashioned about this."
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