Apple CEO Tim Cook Wants to ‘Double-Down’ on Secrecy
Under Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple’s DNA culture isn’t going to change, but expect even more surprises from the world’s most valuable company.
In an interview at the All Things Digital D10 Conference, Cook spokes on a bevy of topics, including Apple’s culture after former CEO Steve Jobs died in October and the changes he plans to put into action as CEO.
Jobs told Cook that he doesn’t want him to run the company with the mindset “What would Steve do?”
“Sometimes he’d flip his opinion so fast, you’d never know that he once thought the opposite,” Cook said, talking about Jobs.
So what is Cook going to change? Interviews from the Wall Street Journal posed that question to Cook Tuesday evening.
You might be surprised, but his answer was secrecy. Sorry to disappoint Apple fan boys, but Cook said, “We’re going to double-down on secrecy. I’m very serious about this — double-down.”
That’s a clear sign that Cook is even more fed up with product leaks than Jobs was. Remember Gizmodo and the iPhone 4 prototype that was found at a California bar? Jobs started by playing nice, but the incident ended with police raiding the Gizmodo editor’s home, taking all of his computers.
While Apple wants to be more secretive about its products, it also wants to be more transparent about the company — especially in manufacturing.
“Our communication used to be once per year,” Cook said. “Now, we’re putting out monthly reports. There are some things I don’t want companies to copy us on; this is something that I do hope we’re copied on.”
Cook was referring to reports about working conditions, which have frequently been in question, at Foxconn Technologies in China, the manufacturer of the iPhone and iPad.
His statements quickly spurred this question: “Will I ever buy an iPhone that on the rear, it says ‘Made in California?’”
Cook’s answer?
“It may, it may… I mean, you could say now that ‘some parts are made in America.”
