In typically scathing style, a post-Keynote Steve Jobs has told the New York Times’ John Markoff of his doubts regarding the Android cellphone platform, calling on Apple’s own experience building the iPhone to illustrate the perils involved in formulating a new mobile platform.

“Having created a phone its a lot harder than it looks.  We’ll see how good their software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted” Steve Jobs, Apple CEO

Jobs also issued what could be seen as a thinly veiled threat to Google, regarding the potential for conflict of interest what with the search giant working both closely with Apple on iPhone-specific apps and interfaces, and on their own handset.  The barb came when the Apple CEO was asked to comment on Google’s motivation to not be “locked out” of the mobile phone world:

“I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners” Steve Jobs

Google has recently released a new UI update bringing more of their online products under the one iPhone-friendly page; their Google Maps app is also preinstalled on the iPhone, and Apple also used the Macworld 08 Keynote to announce an update which adds Assisted-GPS. 

Also in receipt of Jobs’ scorn was Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader (”It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore”).