One shareholder asked Chief Executive Tim Cook whether he views Facebook as a "friend" or a "foe." Cook responded by calling Facebook a "friend."
"We do a lot with them, our users use Facebook an enormous amount," he said, adding: "I've always thought that the two companies could do more together."
Apple has shown a close relationship with Twitter, integrating the social networking service into iOS 5, as well as its forthcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain lion operating system for the Mac. But "share" buttons for Facebook are not yet built in to Apple's operating system.
The same shareholder also asked Cook whether he should return an LG TV that they recently purchased. Unsurprisingly, the Apple CEO offered no comment on that question.
Investors at Thursday's meetings also suggested a number of potential uses for Apple's massive $100 billion cash hoard, including a cash dividend. To that end, Cook simply repeated his previous comments that the company is thinking "very deeply" about what to do with its cash pile.
"My message there is that the board and the management are thinking about this very deeply... and we will do what we think is in the best interest of shareholders," he said.
36 Comments
It's nice to hear Cook say that they'll do what's in the best interest of shareholders....ie, having a healthy respect for the people that actually own the company.
Loved the no comment on the LG TV question ...
Apple calls Facebook a *friend*. Facebook *likes* that but has not decided to grant the request of friendship.
There are no friends in business.
Apple should keep the money in the bank and not give out a dividend. If Apple plans to stay in business another 35 years (or longer) that means they will have to endure periodic hard times. Large cash reserves come in handy when an inflection point arrives.