Google, RIM respond to Steve Jobs' comments during Apple's conference call

Boys will be boys. Yesterday, during the Apple conference call related to the company's earnings report, Steve Jobs took the time to let everyone know exactly where he stands on certain issues.

According to the Book of Jobs, Google is using "openess" to hide the fragmentation that is part of the current Android experience. As we reported yesterday, the Apple CEO said, "With iPhone, every handset works the same. We think Android is very fragmented and more fragmented every day." Jobs also pointed out that while Google is activating 200,000 Android phones daily and has 90,000 apps in the Android Market, Apple is activating 275,000 iPhone units a day and has 300,000 apps in the App Store.

The Apple co-founder didn't stop with Android. He also went after RIM, saying that the company must change to compete with Apple. He noted that the 14.1 million Apple iPhones sold in the last quarter easily topped the 12.1 million BlackBerry models that rang the register over the previous three month period. With one comment saying that 7 inch tablets cannot support great tablet apps, the CEO was negative on both the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. He said that his company had done extensive testing and that a 10 inch screen-like on the Apple iPad-is the way to go and that Apple will never release a 7 inch iPad.

Business-wise, sizing a tablet to fit into a pocket doesn't make sense, according to the executive, because tablet buyers are also smartphone buyers and if they can fit a 7 inch device into a pants pocket, that is a potential smartphone sale you are losing. Lastly, Jobs noted that the iPad currently has 35,000 of its own apps while new tablets will have zero at launch.

Both Google and RIM fired back salvos of their own today. The "father" of Android, Google's Andy Rubin, used his Twitter account for the first time to respond. Rubin's tweet, seen below, refers to the commands you would use to build your own copy of Android on any Linux machine. Rubin is saying to Jobs: "Is that open enough for you?". As a measure of support, Google CEO Eric Schmidt decided to retweet Rubin’s message.

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie took Steve Jobs' words harder and as a result, he hit back harder. Less blunt than Rubin, Balsillie said, "“For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7″ tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple...As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.”

So as the smartphone industry heats up, we have three of the most charismatic executives in the business engaging in the modern equivalent of corporate warfare, using Twitter, YouTube and other modern modes of communication. We think things are going to get a whole lot hotter before there is any semblance of a cease-fire.

An audio tape with 5 minutes of Jobs' tirade can be heard by clicking on the play button below. This is not a video, which explains why the still picture on the link is upside down.

source: BGR, TiPb (1), (2), TechCrunch