TechPulse 360

Apple said it would not let competitors in the cell phone market swipe its intellectual property in an attempt to duplicate the success of the iPhone.

“We will not stand for having our IP ripped off,” COO Timothy Cook said Wednesday on a first-quarter earnings conference call. “We will use every weapon at our disposal.”

Palm Pre resembles the iPhone

Asked moments later whether his comments were specifically aimed at Palm, which announced its first touch-screen phone, the Pre, and a new operating system earlier this month, Cook declined to say.

He only added that Apple is ready to compete, but not let rival steal its innovations. “We believe we are years ahead of the competition” in software development, he said earlier on the call.

Palm has a touch-screen interface not unlike Apple’s.

On the conference call, Apple did say it has seen a burst of iPhone sales since it lowered the handset’s price to $199. When the price fell from $599 to $399, sales increased, Cook said. They increased again when $399 became $199 with the introduction of the faster 3G phone last June.

“There is clearly price elasticity in the market,” he said.

Cook did not say whether Apple plans a lower priced product, or an iPhone Nano as rumors suggest. But “were not going to play in the low end voice business,” her said. “Our objective is not to be the units leader in the cell phone business.”