Steve Jobs criticizes Microsoft on Zune, says Blu-ray won
The Apple CEO was blunt that he believes the Zune is a failure, and that Blu-ray may have won the format war, but has probably lost the HD content battle.
His comments came as part of an interview with CNBC's Jim Goldman on Tuesday. While Jobs is not necessarily known for his subtlety, his statements are about the most direct on either topic so far.
When Goldman told Jobs about Microsoft executive Robbie Bach's comments that he thought the new Zune was a worthy alternative to Apple's iPod, Jobs all but called Bach crazy.
"Was he inebriated? Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?" he said of the device.
As to Blu-ray, he said that the format had won the war over HD DVD. Yet in the end, he continued, its likely not going to matter with the advent of HD downloads. Jobs' opinion is not all that far-fetched: many analysts have said that the only thing the battle may have yielded is enough time for streaming HD to become a viable option.
Other highlights of the interview.
On China Mobile: "People just make this stuff up." He claims an executive from the carrier has visited Apple only once.
On the MacBook Air: "Intel did a great job in miniaturizing its very fast Core 2 Duo processor. There was lots more to do though ... we probably built 100 models to get to this."
On the iPhone: "The customer feedback is just off the charts ... I think to make a product that's so beloved, you just know its going to be really successful."
More of the interview can be found on the CNBC website.