Apple's Tim Cook: Not at all worried about Android market share (he says)

TERRANEA RESORT, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. — Android market share has zoomed past Apple’s in the past year, first in smartphones and now — nearly — in tablets.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook is not worried. But then, he wouldn’t say that he was, would he?

Cook, speaking onstage at All Things Digital’s D11 conference today, repeatedly refused to answer specific questions about Apple’s future product direction. He acknowledged that Apple’s stock price has been “frustrating” lately. But he did say he was happy with the current market standing of iOS versus its competitors.

“Winning, for us, has never been about making the most,” Cook said. Instead, he said, the company is focused on making the best possible products and creating the best possible customer experiences. That bears out in three areas, he said:

Usage. Cook cited figures from web-traffic analysis firm NetApp showing that iPad users are actually using their tablets far more than Android customers.

E-commerce. He said iPad users make twice as many purchases from e-commerce websites as all other tablets combined.

Customer satisfaction. Apple’s products consistently rank the highest in various measures of customer satisfaction, including J.D. Powers’ industry-standard surveys.

Plus, just look at the absolute numbers: Cook said that Apple has sold 85 million iPhones to date and 42 million iPads. Its app store has 350,000 apps that have been optimized for the iPad.

“Customers love them,” Cook said. And for him, at least onstage, that’s enough.