Apple CEO Tim Cook labels Microsoft Surface tablet a 'compromised and confusing product'

By virtue of being Apple's CEO, Tim Cook is arguably the most powerful man in tech. And what does Cook choose to do with all that power? Why, he compares his competitor's devices to a fictional car that flies and floats, of course.

The product in question is Microsoft's Surface with Windows RT tablet, which goes on sale today.

During Apple's financial earnings conference call last night with analysts and journalists, The Big A's head honcho was asked if he'd had a chance to play around with a Surface yet.

To no one's massive surprise, Cook replied in the negative (presumably, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer didn't FedEx one over to Apple HQ during the week). After reading some reviews of the device, though, Cook reckons it looks like a "very compromised and confusing product".

"I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do all of those things very well," he went on to say. "And so I think people, when they look at the iPad versus competitive offerings, are going to conclude they really want an iPad."

Later on in that same conference call, the subject of the iPad mini's pricing was brought up.

As I'm sure you're all aware, Apple's recently announced 7.9-inch touchscreen tablet is available to pre-order from £269 / $329.

Now, compared to the Nexus 7's and the Kindle Fire HD's starting price ($199), the RRP for the base model iPad mini seems rather steep.

As is to be expected, both Cook and Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer defended the iPad mini's pricing, essentially repeating Apple's long-held mantra that you get what you pay for in this industry.

"When we set out to build the iPad mini, we didn't set out to build a small, cheap tablet," Oppenheimer said.

Picking up on that point, Cook then stated: "I would encourage you to use an iPad mini and I don't think that you'll be using anything other than another iPad after that."