Apple CEO Cook: Android has 47 times more malware than iOS

Apple CEO Tim Cook was the subject of a virtual interview at Europe's VivaTech conference. The interview, discussed by MacRumors, lasted just shy of half an hour and was conducted by Guillaume Lacroix, CEO and founder of short form video provider Brut. During the talk, Cook stated that Android has 47 times more malware than iOS.

The CEO went on to explain why there is such a discrepancy between iOS and Android in this department. "Because we've designed iOS in such a way that there's one ‌App Store‌ and all of the apps are reviewed prior to going on the store," Cook said. He also discussed Apple's focus on privacy and even mentioned his predecessor, boss, and friend, the late Steve Jobs.

"And we've been focused on privacy for decades," Cook stated, "Steve used to say privacy was stating in plain language what people are signing up for and getting their permission. And that permission should be asked repeatedly. We've always tried to live up to that."

We know from past interviews that the executive is happy with Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires that companies obtain the express approval of consumers in order to collect their personal data. Cook says that he'd even support stronger laws. "We were big supporters of GDPR from the beginning," he said, "and we would support going even further than the GDPR in privacy because there's still so much left to do in the privacy world."

The man called Tim Apple by former President Trump said, "Current Digital Services Act language that is being discussed would force sideloading on the ‌iPhone‌. This would be an alternate way of getting apps onto the ‌iPhone‌. As we look at that, that would destroy the security of the ‌iPhone‌ and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we've built into the App Store, where we have privacy nutrition labels and App Tracking Transparency that forces people to get permission to track across apps."

Apple's CEO was asked what he expects from the iPhone 30 in about 20 years, and while he says that it will be better than the iPhone 12 series, he also states that he is not one of those people who can make forecasts 20 and 30 years out. He does say that he is very high on Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence.

"I get excited about AR," Cook says, "because I see it as technology that can enhance life in a broad way. We've been working on AR first with our iPhones and iPads, and later we'll see where that goes in terms of our products. The key thing is that it can enrich people's lives. I get excited about AI and the ability to remove some of the things that keep people down and do work and free up leisure time for people."

Returning to the issue of malware and app privacy, while Google has shown an alarming lack of catching malware in Android apps, Apple has recently been called out several times by Flick Type developer Kosta Eleftheriou for allowing scammy apps into the App Store. One example is an app that appears on the surface to be a basic children's app with games for the kids to play. However, when a VPN was used, the app turned into a casino that accepted real cash and made real cash payouts.

Apple also has recently been criticized by U.S. lawmakers for promoting its own apps in the App Store over those belonging to competitors.