Elon Musk: Apple Likely to Lose to Google in Smartphone Market Without Steve Jobs

By Zak Islam
published

Current CEO Tim Cook criticized for being technology "lightweight".

Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk says without Steve Jobs, Apple will likely ultimately lose to Google in the smartphone market.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was quoted at a government-sponsored roundtable in London saying that Apple will likely lose out to Google in the smartphone market "because (former Apple CEO Steve) Jobs is out of the picture."

He added that "it really makes a difference who runs the company. (Google CEO) Larry Page is quite good and probably in the long run will come out on top."

Musk's comments follows Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressing his worry that Microsoft might be more creative than Apple and the latter will eventually show signs of decline due to its lack of innovation. An analyst had also said the firm's creativity is "sputtering".

Current CEO Tim Cook, meanwhile, has been criticized for his apparent lack of leadership skills, as well as being a technology "lightweight".

Android has been increasing its smartphone market share quarter-over-quarter, with iOS seeing its share decrease due to the emergence of various handsets powered by Google's platform. During the third quarter of 2012, Android was installed on 72.4 percent of all smartphones.

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Zak Islam
57 Comments Comment from the forums
  • sinfulpotato
    My first instinct when I saw this article was to grab my shotgun.. surely news this old had to be risen from the grave.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    otacon72Comparing iOS to Android as it pertains to smartphone market share is ludicrous. iOS is on what 4 different devices and Android is on several hundred. Take the 4 top selling Android smartphones then compare those to iOS. No contest on a level playing field. iOS wins by a landslide.
    did you forget to read the article about Samsung S3 outselling Apple most selling phone, iPhone 4s?
    Reply
  • bigdog44
    If MS can get their crap together, maybe they won't miss this window of opportunity, and maybe spur some innovation on all fronts. Right now its still the same old price vs popularity contest.
    Reply
  • bigdog44
    If MS can get their crap together, maybe they won't miss this window of opportunity, and maybe spur some innovation on all fronts. Right now its still the same old price vs popularity contest.
    Reply
  • memadmax
    It won't be only because of Steve Jobs, but it will also be because of his legacy of being a stubborn ack and keeping Apple crap closed system...
    This nearly killed apple back in the 90's, it can and will happen again... Just because it got lucky and found a gadget niche means nothing if they can't get on the open and dynamic bandwagon.
    Reply
  • the1kingbob
    Sorry, I doubt apple would be doing any better at this moment if Jobs was still around. Android is winning for many reasons, but the main one is price. All in all apple does not and chooses not compete on price. There are countless android phones that are free with contract that are actually really good phones.So people need to stop making excuses, apple is failing because they are doing what they have always done. If anything they would be doing worse with jobs, there would be no 4 inch screen or 7 inch ipad.

    Apple's new processor is just a refined processor someone else designed. Their GPU technology is nearly unmatched, but not because of innovation. It is due to a locked eco-system and oh, lets not forget they keep increasing the performance by increasing the number of GPU cores, not necessarily better cores just more. With one hand they insult other ARM manufactures for just increasing core count while touting their superior GPU technology.

    As for the first comment, they are comparing by OS because that has it is done. You can't just decide to change the metric because it doesn't fit well anymore. Android comes in every shape, size, and network. Comes in big screens, little screen, huge screens, with keyboards, with SD slots, without keyboards, without SD slots, with LTE, without LTE, some have WiMax, single core, duel cores, quad cores, and at every price point imaginable. One thing I find funny, is the old iphone was the magic/perfect size, right?. If that is so, why don't they make the perfect size with the best hardware? Why is it if I want the best hardware iphone has to offer I have to buy the big screen?
    Reply
  • LuckyDucky7
    History repeats itself again.

    Just replace Google with Microsoft and RIM with IBM in the OS wars of the early '90s-2000.

    Apple comes up with some basic UI. Hugely popular at first, but only runs on select hardware.

    Google, at about the same time, comes out with a similar system. Doesn't work as well, but runs on EVERYTHING, and apps are easy to port over. No license needed for development and very open- runs more languages than Apple does. UI isn't as consistent as Apple's, and the system, in its early years, is unstable and buggy.

    Apple then sues over basic UI and 'look-and-feel' elements. They lose the case, and retreat into irrelevancy until the next 'big thing' comes along- they never bother to innovate beyond the basics.

    RIM had a platform, too. It was extremely stable and popular in the business environment- and (in the case of the Playbook) ran Windows, er, Android applications. But this wasn't enough, and though it was a better system (in the beginning), it faded away.

    I'm disregarding the analogues to Linux for now, though webOS (and Nokia's stuff) fits the bill quite nicely- they're even more open than Android can dream to be- and most of their features are being copied for Android considering where those developers went.


    And 20 years down the road the cycle repeats. Who will be next or still around to compete?
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    otacon72Comparing iOS to Android as it pertains to smartphone market share is ludicrous. iOS is on what 4 different devices and Android is on several hundred. Take the 4 top selling Android smartphones then compare those to iOS. No contest on a level playing field. iOS wins by a landslide.There really isn't a "winner" in a market, just losers. As long as you have enough sales to justify development then you are not a loser. One platform may appeal to some people more than the other but that is a matter of opinion. iOS is limited to Apple hardware and Android is not.
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    Apple was losing to Android in the smartphone market even WITH Steve Jobs
    ...
    When world+dog still thought Steve was healthy and active they were being outsold by several to one already, maybe not with a single juggernaut manufacturer like Samsung but the Android OS as a whole was selling like hotcakes, plus the range of handsets from the various manufacturers in every size, shape, colour, with removable batteries, expandable storage
    ...
    Stop embodying Steve Jobs with some kind of magical powers, as if he was still around Apple would still be king of the hill
    ...
    If this the film Dogma then by now Zak Islam would have been branded an idolator and be getting righteously judged by Loki & Bartleby
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    Why that Zak Islam, nothing but an Apple fanboy. Can he do anything besides write articles where he just gushes over how great Apple is?

    Oh, wait....


    See, this is the type of article the Zak haters ignore and yet proves he does not come with some pro Apple bias.
    Reply