For those who closely watch the tech industry, the question of the moment is "what's going on with Apple?"
After a decade of virtual infallibility, the company has been the victim of some high-profile setbacks, such as the iPhone maps debacle and a recent slip in its stock price.
Some observers have pinned the failures squarely on the shoulders of new CEO, and Time "Person of the Year" runner-up, Tim Cook. However, in an interview on Current TV's Gavin Newsom Show, New York Times Bits Blog columnist and frequent Newsom show guest Nick Bilton took a more nuanced view.
"I think the company is a little bit more open now [after Cook took over], which is great," explained Bilton. "I've seen him publicly at events and things like that and he doesn't have the opinions that Steve Jobs would."
Bilton noted that Jobs would sometimes deride ideas like a smaller iPad while the company was simultaneously working on that very thing.
"You have this iPad Mini, which is one of the most amazing devices ever made. Do you have one? I'll sell you one for lots and lots of money," Bilton told Newsom with a laugh. "I carry mine with me all the time, it slips in my jacket pocket...The difference between the iPad Mini and what I call the "iPad Biggie" is that [the latter] is great for when you're at home--its got a beautiful big screen--but it feels like a coffee table book and the iPad Mini is something you can take about. I think what's really interesting is that Steve Jobs was sick the last couple years of his life and he didn't really go out and about. He wasn't the kind of person who sat on the subway and things like that. So, for him, I don't think it was a product that he needed, but it was a product that everyone else needed."
The Gavin Newsom Show runs at 10 p.m. PST/1 a.m. EST on Current TV.