10 Insights from Apple CEO Tim Cook at D10 Conference
Apple CEO Tim Cook had plenty to say at the 10th anniversary of the All Things Digital Conference — his first public interview experience. This conference, hosted by the Wall Street Journal, was a favorite of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October.
Cook covered everything from Apple’s culture to rumored products and more. Here is our top 10 on what Cook had to offer Tuesday evening:
10 – Cook isn’t Steve Jobs and doesn’t want to be Steve Jobs. He said Jobs told him never to lead the company with the mindset, “What would Steve do?”
9 – Cook wants Apple to be more secretive than it has ever been. He’s clearly fed up with product leaks. “I want to double down on secrecy,” he said.
8 – Maybe we won’t see the iPhone 5 featuring a larger screen. Cook said Apple makes “one phone with one screen size and one resolution. It’s pretty simple if you’re a developer developing for this platform.”
7 – We might see a 7-inch iPad, though. When asked about it, Cook simply laughed it off.
6 - Apple TV is doing surprisingly well — they’ve already sold 2.7 million units this year. In all of 2011, they sold 2.8 million.
5 – Cook said the company recognizes concerns that people have about their current television experience and wants to keep “pulling the string” on that topic.
4 – Cook is definitely open to big company acquisitions — but only for great technology. They never considered purchasing Instagram as Facebook did for $1 billion, but it sounded like they were approached.
3 – Expect much, much more out of Siri this year. “Customers love it,” Cook said. “But there’s more that it can do… We have a lot of cool ideas about what Siri can do. Stay tuned.”
2 – Apple isn’t concerned about cell phone bandwidth, but is opening to partnering with a cell phone provider. “We try to be honest on places we can contribute and places we can’t,” Cook said. Cell phone bandwidth isn’t one of them.
We report rumors just like many Apple and technology blogs, so I saved this one for last:
1 – Cook says reports from rumor sites is a great privilege. “I think all of that is great,” he said. “I love it. Do I want something printed on a site that’s confidential? No… I view our ecosystem as including great sites that care deeply about the company. I have no problem with people disagreeing with things we’re doing — that’s our country. I love it.”
