Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the Wall Street Journal's tenth annual D: All Things Digital conference on Tuesday, May 29, marking his second public interview in recent months. His predecessor, Steve Jobs, took the center stage at the event several times before. Cook answered questions from conference hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, talking about Siri, the company's approach to the gaming and television markets, social networking and, of course, the untimely death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
'Doubling Down' on Siri
When an Apple executive makes a public appearance, it's inevitable that the conversation would steer towards future product releases. The hosts tried to trick Cook into revealing details about future products, but the CEO gracefully dodged the questions and said the company was "doubling down on secrecy" in terms of product releases. Cook did, however, offer a few teasers, especially regarding the Siri feature currently exclusive to the iPhone 4S.
"Customers love [Siri], but there's more that it can do," said Cook. "And we have a lot of people working on this. And I think you'll be really pleased with some of the things that you'll see in the coming months...we've got some cool ideas about what Siri can do. And so we have a lot going on on this. I think you'll be pleased where we're taking Siri. We're doubling down on it."
Apple TV
Asked about the rumors suggesting Apple could be working on a physical TV set, Cook steered the conversation to Apple's general attitude toward the current Apple TV product, and the television world. "We've stayed in the Apple TV product business, and we're not a hobby kind of company...Our tendency is to do very few things, pull all of our wood behind a few arrows, and if something creeps in and isn't a big success we get it out of the way and move on," said Cook.
According to him, Apple has remained in the TV market and Apple TV sales are growing. The company sold 2.8 million Apple TVs in all of 2011, and 2.7 million in the first half og its 2012 fiscal year, added Cook, noting that customer satisfaction is "off the charts."
"So we're going to keep pulling this string and see where it takes us," he continued. "I think many people would say this is an area in their life that they're not really pleased with. The whole TV experience. So it's an interesting area. We'll have to see what we do. Right now, our contribution is Apple TV."
When the hosts pressed the CEO to comment on the rumored physical TV set, Cook tried to counter the question by explaining how Apple generally decides whether or not to tap a product category. "We'd look and ask, can we control the key technology? Can we make a significant contribution far beyond what others have done in this area? Can we make a product that we all want? This is sort of how we think."
Gaming
The Verge's Joshua Topolsky later asked Cook about Apple's interest in competing with gaming consoles. Cook suggested that his company was focused on mobile gaming on iOS devices, but alluded that Apple might take on the TV screen as well. "You have more people playing games on portable devices than on the big screen TV now," he said. "Where we might go in the future, you know, we'll see...I'm not interested in being in the console business. But if you view gaming more broadly than that, then I feel we are a pretty big player today and the things we do in the future will only make that bigger." Asked whether Apple had a specific interest in games that can be played on a TV set, Cook vaguely responded that "it could be interesting."
Social networking
The relationship between Apple and Facebook has seemed rather rocky lately. Apple launched its Ping social-networking layer in 2010 with Facebook integrated at first, but rapidly de-integrated afterwards. Meanwhile, iOS 5 offered deep integration for Twitter, but not for Facebook. Mountain Lion seems to do the same. Cook, however, denied that the relationship between the two companies was rocky.
"I think the relationship is very solid," Cook said. "We have great respect for them. I think we can do more with them. And so, just stay tuned on this one... we want to provide customers simple, elegant ways to do the things they want to do. And Facebook has hundreds of millions of customers. Anyone with an iPhone or iPad wants to have the best experience with Facebook on any device. So stay tuned."
A Moment for Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs had several memorable appearances at D: All Things Digital conferences, and although it is Cook's turn, the new Apple CEO took the time to remember his predecessor and talk about how great he was. Cook insisted that his intentions are not to replace Jobs, as nobody could replace him.
"Steve was a genius and a visionary," Cook said. "I've never viewed my role as to replace him I think he's an irreplaceable person. Steve was an original. I don't think there is another one of those being made. I've never really felt the weight of trying to be Steve. It's just not who I am. It's not my goal in life. I am who I am, and I'm focused on that and being a great CEO of Apple... I love every minute of it. It's an incredible place to be. It's my oxygen."
