Monday afternoon Apple announced another quarter of record sales and earnings. Though iPod sales were down—a trend expected in a saturated market—Mac sales, iPad sales, and iPhone sales especially were up. Revenue and profits were also up, and the company is sitting on something approaching a $41 billion dollar cash hoard. So why, then, did CEO Steve Jobs—who doesn’t normally participate in earnings calls—spend a good amount of time pointing out how its smartphone and tablet competitors just “don’t get it?”

The answer is two-fold. Jobs was addressing concerns that analysts and shareholders have about the effect that competing mobile platforms—particularly Android—will have on Apple’s iOS ecosystem. (Jobs’ belief: not much.) But Jobs was also addressing the media and, by extension, the consumer base at large, attempting to reframe the debate about Apple’s “closed” approach versus Android’s “open” approach. He also touted Apple’s attention to detail that goes into every part of the product, from the hardware to the software.

So far, the numbers Apple reported for the fiscal fourth quarter—which included over $20 billion in revenue—suggest Apple’s approach is working, and may in fact be winning.

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Steve Jobs drops by Apple earnings call to take jabs at competition