Yesterday, we highlighted Haunted Empire, a new book from former Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane examining the transition Apple has undergone with the death of Steve Jobs. While the book includes a few interesting tidbits, our view was that Kane had selected anecdotes to support a predetermined conclusion that Apple is in decline.

With the book debuting today, Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken the unusual step of issuing a statement about the book, calling it "nonsense", according to CNBC. Cook's statement reads:

This nonsense belongs with some of the other books I've read about Apple. It fails to capture Apple, Steve, or anyone else in the company. Apple has over 85,000 employees that come to work each day to do their best work, to create the world's best products, to put their mark in the universe and leave it better than they found it. This has been the heart of Apple from day one and will remain at the heart for decades to come. I am very confident about our future. We've always had many doubters in our history. They only make us stronger.

The book's release comes as Apple fans continue to wait for the first major product releases of 2014. Earlier today, the company brought back the 16 GB fourth-generation iPad as a low-end model to replace the iPad 2 and released a new 8 GB iPhone 5c in several countries to offer a cheaper option compatible with LTE networks.

Update 3/18 2:22 PT: Yukari Kane has given a statement to Re/code on Cook's condemnation of her book.