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Apple's Cook on competitors: 'They're confused'

Apple CEO Tim Cook says that his company's competitors have "chased after Netbooks" and now want to "make tablets into PCs and PCs into tablets."

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Tim Cook thinks his competitors are "confused."
Apple's Tim Cook thinks his competitors are "confused." James Martin/CNET

Apple CEO Tim Cook fired a shot over the bow of Microsoft and PC vendors during his company's special event on Tuesday.

Standing before a street sign with a squiggled arrow, Cook said that his company's competitors are "confused."

"The competition is different...they are confused," Cook said. "They chased after netbooks. Now they are trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they will do next? I can't answer that question, but I can tell we have a very clear direction and very ambitious goals. We still believe deeply in this category and we are not slowing down on innovation. We have been really hard at work on the Mac and we have exciting new products."

Cook's comment didn't specifically mention competitors, but it seemed clear that Microsoft and PC vendors -- the companies that invested in Netbooks before they were all but killed off by tablets -- were the target for his jab.

That comment came after Cook announced that 64 percent of users are currently running iOS 7 -- a figure he says, stands in stark contrast to the initial adoption rates of its competitors.