Acting CEO Tim Cook handled the bulk of the questions from analysts in Apple’s (AAPL) second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, and he seized the opportunity — in Steve Jobs’ absence — to wave the company’s flag.
Five key quotes (checked against Seeking Alpha’s transcript):
On Apple’s shrinking market share: “I care about US share, of course I do. However, I think cycles come and cycles go. And what we’re about is making the best computers in the world, not making the most, and not getting to a point where we are building products that we are not building products that we are not proud of. And so that first and foremost is our objective and we believe that if we do that over the long-term that we will gain share.”
On netbooks: “For us, it’s about doing great products. And when I look at what is being sold in the netbook space today, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens, and just not a consumer experience, and not something that we would put the Mac brand on quite frankly. And so, it’s not a space as it exists today that we are interested in, nor do we believe that customers in the long term would be interested in.”
On leaving AT&T for Verizon: “We view AT&T as a very good partner. … We’re very happy with the relationship that we have and do not have a plan to change it. From a technology point of view as you know, Verizon is on CDMA and we chose from the beginning of the iPhone to focus on one phone for the whole of the world and when you do that, you really go down the GSM route, because CDMA is – doesn’t really have a life to it after a point in time.”
On China: “We now have of the four BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, and China, we have three of those up. We would like to be in China within the next year and are currently working on that. But I have got nothing specific to announce today on this.”
On the Palm pre and Apple’s intellectual property: “We think competition is great, we think it makes all of us better, as long as other companies invent their own stuff.”
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