The Wall Street Journal
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs, in a broad-ranging discussion, took more potshots at Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash software, vowed not to get into search despite Google Inc.'s move into Apple's turf, and called Apple passing Microsoft Corp.'s stock valuation "surreal."
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital technology conference on Tuesday, Mr. Jobs touched on issues that include suicides at Apple's largest contractor, challenges related to AT&T Inc.'s phone network and the origins of the iPad.
The war between Apple and Adobe has been escalating over the last few months. Mr. Jobs reiterated on Tuesday that it believed an emerging technology called HTML 5 was a better alternative to Adobe's Flash. "Sometimes you have to pick the things that look like the right horses to ride going forward," he said, adding that consumers pay Apple to make those choices.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jobs defended its Taiwanese contractor Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn, saying that it wasn't a "sweatshop" despite a spate of employee suicides that has put its working conditions under scrutiny. Still he said that the company was troubled over the situation and it was "over there trying to understand what's happening, and more importantly trying to understand how to help."
While Apple has been fighting a public relations battle with Adobe, its relationship with former ally Google has also gotten tense as the two companies increasingly compete in areas that include smartphones, mobile operating systems, Web browsers, video and music.
Mr. Jobs said the relationship changed when Google "decided to compete with us", particularly in the area of mobile phones. However, he said Apple had no plans to enter the search business and wasn't going to remove Google search from the iPad and iPhone. Internet search is "not something we know about" or "care deeply" about, he said.
Since launching the iPhone three years ago, Apple has faced complaints in the U.S. because of quality issues with partner AT&T. Mr. Jobs said he expects the operator's networks get a lot better, certainly by the end of the summer. However, he also acknowledged there "might be an advantage" in having more than one wireless carrier in the U.S. in a possible hint of a future partnership with other carriers.
He also credited AT&T—the iPhone's exclusive carrier—with helping Apple "change the rules of the game" in cellphones, with the hardware maker rather than the network making most key decisions about product and service features.
Mr. Jobs also stated what he said was a secret—work on a tablet began before Apple's cellphone, but didn't pass muster. "My God, I said, this would make a great phone...so we shelved the tablet and built the iPhone."
Asked about whether the iPad will be a savior for content creators, Mr. Jobs said: "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers…I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for."
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital technology conference on Tuesday, Mr. Jobs touched on issues that include suicides at Apple's largest contractor, challenges related to AT&T Inc.'s phone network and the origins of the iPad.
The war between Apple and Adobe has been escalating over the last few months. Mr. Jobs reiterated on Tuesday that it believed an emerging technology called HTML 5 was a better alternative to Adobe's Flash. "Sometimes you have to pick the things that look like the right horses to ride going forward," he said, adding that consumers pay Apple to make those choices.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jobs defended its Taiwanese contractor Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn, saying that it wasn't a "sweatshop" despite a spate of employee suicides that has put its working conditions under scrutiny. Still he said that the company was troubled over the situation and it was "over there trying to understand what's happening, and more importantly trying to understand how to help."
While Apple has been fighting a public relations battle with Adobe, its relationship with former ally Google has also gotten tense as the two companies increasingly compete in areas that include smartphones, mobile operating systems, Web browsers, video and music.
Mr. Jobs said the relationship changed when Google "decided to compete with us", particularly in the area of mobile phones. However, he said Apple had no plans to enter the search business and wasn't going to remove Google search from the iPad and iPhone. Internet search is "not something we know about" or "care deeply" about, he said.
Since launching the iPhone three years ago, Apple has faced complaints in the U.S. because of quality issues with partner AT&T. Mr. Jobs said he expects the operator's networks get a lot better, certainly by the end of the summer. However, he also acknowledged there "might be an advantage" in having more than one wireless carrier in the U.S. in a possible hint of a future partnership with other carriers.
He also credited AT&T—the iPhone's exclusive carrier—with helping Apple "change the rules of the game" in cellphones, with the hardware maker rather than the network making most key decisions about product and service features.
Mr. Jobs also stated what he said was a secret—work on a tablet began before Apple's cellphone, but didn't pass muster. "My God, I said, this would make a great phone...so we shelved the tablet and built the iPhone."
Asked about whether the iPad will be a savior for content creators, Mr. Jobs said: "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers…I think we need editorial oversight now more than ever. Anything we can do to help newspapers find new ways of expression that will help them get paid, I am all for."
