Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is easier to work with now that Tim Cook is at the helm, according to a top executive of a major mobile carrier in France. Stephane Richard, CEO of France Telecom-Orange, said the company has become “more flexible” and “a little less arrogant” in the time since Steve Jobs passed away. Cook however, has a different view. He called life after Jobs “weird” and said he still misses him.
According to All Things D, Richard spoke with reporters at a dinner at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona on Monday. He said he believes Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is now “a little more under pressure,” characterizing it as “quite nice.” According to Richard, the company now is more compliant with European partner carriers.
Richard also talked about the difficulties in a third mobile ecosystem becoming popular enough to compete with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94). He admitted that the market probably can’t support numerous ecosystems, but said he hopes one of the newer operating systems, like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V)’s Windows 8 devices or Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s new BlackBerry devices, will emerge as a strong contender for third place on the mobile scene. However, at this point he said he isn’t seeing the “wow” effect that’s needed to steal market share from the top two contenders.
The CEO also shared his views on European regulation of the telecom industry. He sees the industry as over-regulated and even spoke out against certain regulators, calling one “dumb” and another apparently powerless to make any major changes in regulatory problems.
In addition, he said the European mobile market contains more than 100 different carriers, which he believes is far too many. He believes regulators should keep other carriers from coming into the industry.
