Ondrej Holzman Apple is more open than ever, CEO Tim Cook confirmed after introducing new products last week. On the one hand, by participating in a two-hour interview with the well-known American journalist Charlie Rose, and on the other hand, by the fact that it was during that very open interview that he confirmed that Apple is opening up more and more.
He worked on the Apple watch for three years
PBS aired the first part of the most revealing interview the Apple boss has ever given with Tim Cook late last week, and plans to air the second part Monday night. In the first hour, however, several interesting pieces of information were revealed. The conversation revolved around various topics, from Steve Jobs to Beats, IBM and the competition to, of course, the newly introduced iPhones and Apple Watch.
Tim Cook confirmed that the Apple Watch was three years in the works and one of the reasons why Apple decided to show it off a few months before it went on sale was because of the developers. "We did it so that developers have time to create apps for them," Cook revealed, adding that Twitter and Facebook, for example, are already working on theirs, and once everyone gets their hands on the new WatchKit, everyone will be able to develop apps for the Apple Watch.
At the same time, Cook revealed about the Apple Watch that it can actually play music with a Bluetooth headset. However, Apple does not yet have any wireless headphones, so the question remains whether it will come up with its own solution within six months, or whether it will promote Beats products.
At the same time, the Apple Watch was a product that was speculated to be introduced by Apple, but nothing was known about its form. Apple managed to keep the development of its wearable device perfectly secret, and Tim Cook admitted to Charlie Rose that Apple is working on many other products that no one knows about. “There are products he's working on that no one knows about. Yes, which haven't even been speculated about yet," Cook said, but as expected declined to be more specific.
We continue to be very interested in television
However, we will certainly not see all such products. “We test and develop many products internally. Some will become great Apple products, others we will postpone," said Cook, and he also commented on Apple's constantly growing portfolio, which has been significantly expanded, especially by the new iPhones and the Apple Watch, which will be released in many variants. "If you took every product that Apple makes, they would fit on this table," Apple's boss explained, noting that many competitors are focused on releasing as many products as possible, while Apple, while having more and more products, only makes the kind of equipment he knows he can do best.
Categorically, Cook did not deny that one of the future products could be television. "Television is one of the areas we're very interested in," Cook replied, but added in a second breath that it's not the only area Apple is looking at, so it will depend on which one it ultimately decides on. But for Cook, the current television industry got stuck somewhere in the 70s and has virtually gone nowhere since then.
Charlie Rose also couldn't help but ask what was behind the fact that Apple changed its mind about the size of iPhones and released two new ones with a larger diagonal. According to Cook, however, the reason was not Samsung, as the biggest competitor, which has already had similar-sized smartphones on offer for several years. “We could have made a bigger iPhone a few years ago. But it wasn't about making a bigger phone. It was about making a better phone in every way.”
I believed Steve would pull through
Probably the most honest, when he didn't have to be too careful about what he said, Cook talked about Steve Jobs. He revealed in the interview that he never thought Jobs would leave so soon. “I felt Steve was better. I always thought it would come together eventually," Jobs' successor said, adding that he was surprised when Jobs called him in August 2011 to tell him he wanted him to become the new CEO. Although the two had already talked about this topic several times, Cook did not expect it to happen so soon. Moreover, he ultimately expected that Steve Jobs would remain in the role of chairman for a long time and continue to work closely with Cook.
In a comprehensive interview, Cook also talked about the acquisition of Beats, cooperation with IBM, the theft of data from iCloud and the kind of team he is building at Apple. You can watch the complete first part of the interview in the video below.
There should be a double by now. That is the second part.
I seem to read things like this several times a year. Cook has been "excited about revolutionary new products that he can't say anything about" perhaps since he took over. And the only new thing in those 3 years, apart from tablets getting smaller and phones getting bigger, is an overpriced watch and an ashtray.
Products that no one has speculated about yet? We still have a lot of time, because there will be speculation about it for a year or two before publication.