Steve Jobs let loose on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Twitter in one fell swoop during Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) quarterly earnings call in October. In a surprise visit on the call (which, by the way, heralded Apple's first $20 billion quarter), Jobs attacked Google--and other Android proponents--for fragmenting the mobile computing environment by using proprietary user interfaces. 

Google shot back with an ultra-geeky tweet (inaugural tweet, no less, we're told) from Android vice president Andy Rubin: The definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"

RIM also got an earful from Jobs during the call. According to Jobs, the Apple iPad has nothing to fear from 7-inch tablet computers, including RIM's. He also claimed that the iPhone was outselling the BlackBerry, and said RIM would have to go past its "area of strength and comfort, into the unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company."

RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie fired back in a blog post: "[W]hile Apple's attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of websites that use Flash," Balsillie wrote. "As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story." Touché.