Stefan Mileschin

Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended his outfit's sudden loss of cool and falling share price.

Jobs' Mob has been accused of losing the plot lately with most of the Tame Apple Press blaming a lack of "game changing innovation" which, apparently, the company displayed while Steve Jobs was alive.

According to Reuters, Cook defended the company's record of innovation under his stewardship, saying he expected it would release "several more game changers".

This led observers to wonder if there would be more rounded rectangles or would a platonic solid be among the mix. Apparently though, Cook thinks that wearable computers will be the new thing.

He enthused that it was an area ripe for exploration. Talking to the All Things Digital conference in California, Cook claimed that the time was ripe for everyone to get excited about wearable computers and there will be "tons of companies playing in this".

So, no game changing innovation then and Apple will just be following a pack into wearable computers. Knickers?

But with a nod to Apple's tradition of absurd secrecy, Cook stopped short of clarifying if Apple was working on wearable products amid speculation that it is developing a smartwatch, saying only that wearable computers had to be compelling.

Cook dismissed Google Glass as likely to have only limited appeal. After all, everyone wears watches these days, and few people wear glasses.

He said that there was nothing that's going to convince a kid who has never worn glasses or a band or a watch to wear one. So he thinks that there are lots of things still to solve in the wearable computer area.

What Cook was a little more enthusiastic about was Apple telly. He said he had a "grand vision" for television that goes beyond an existing $99 Apple TV streaming device.

This is hardly game changing news. Apple has wanted to do a working version of a telly for years without much success at all. Now it is having to concede ground in that area to competition from Google and Intel.

Cook warned that the future of iOS would be evident when it holds its annual developer conference next month, and said the company was investing heavily in online services such as its god-awful mapping application.

When asked if Apple has lost its cool, Cook said "absolutely not" and excitedly went onto list some cool statistics of device sales and usage. He, however, acknowledged that he was frustrated with the sudden downturn in the firm's stock price.

When one Apple fanboy compared him to Gil Amelio, a former Apple CEO who presided over a low point in Apple's history during the mid-1990s, he said that Apple believes very much in the element of surprise.

Funny really, we knew you would say that, Tim.

http://news.techeye.net/business/app...s-loss-of-cool