Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledges BlackBerry data efficiency and admits carriers actually care about it

Last night, while covering the Apple Q2 results for iMore, I heard Tim Cook say something that I don't ever quite recall anyone from Apple ever saying before.

In response to a question about carrier subsidies on iPhones, and potential pressure, Cook said the following as part of his reply:

"Our engineering teams work extremely hard to be efficient with data and differently than some others. And we believe as a result of this iPhone has far better data efficiently compared to other smartphone that are using sort of an app rich ecosystem. Finally, and this is most important, iPhone is the best smartphone on the planet to entice a customer who is currently using a traditional mobile phone to upgrade to a smartphone. This is by far the largest opportunity for Apple, for our carrier partners and its a great fantastic experience for customers. So its a win win win there"

Sure, he didn't actually say "BlackBerry" anywhere. But his wording was carefully chosen, as usual. He said Apple is more efficient than other "app rich" ecosystems, meaning Android. By saying this, he clearly recognizes BlackBerry is more efficient.

But what surprised me even more was how he even acknowledged the importance of data efficiency at all. In some ways its nice to see Apple acknowledge the importance of something that RIM has been so good at for so long. But it's also clear that consumers don't really care that much about data efficiency.

I included the second part of Cook's quote to remind RIM how important it is to compete at the top. Apple is not just going after the smartphone market. They're going after the entire mobile market.