Roger Fingas
In an interview published Wednesday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook discussed a slew of topics ranging from Apple corporate culture, to the prospects for the Apple Watch, to whether the company's all-encompassing product ecosystem is still manageable.
Speaking with Fast Company, Cook claimed that his company is continuing to follow many of the philosophies set by co-founder Steve Jobs.
"Steve felt that most people live in a small box," he said. "They think they can't influence or change things a lot. I think he would probably call that a limited life. And more than anybody I've ever met, Steve never accepted that."
Cook also reiterated the position that Apple is more concerned with making the "best products in the world," rather than focusing on quantity or sales numbers.
"When Apple looks at what categories to enter, we ask these kinds of questions: What are the primary technologies behind this? What do we bring? Can we make a significant contribution to society with this? If we can't, and if we can't own the key technologies, we don't do it," he added. "That philosophy comes directly from him [Jobs] and it still very much permeates the place."
Apple regularly acquires other companies as it prepares to introduce new products and features. The Beats takeover, for instance, is expected to lead to an on-demand iTunes music service.
On the Apple Watch, Cook said that the main mistake committed by other smartwatch makers is relying on smartphone gestures, rather than creating an interface uniquely tailored to a small screen.
"Try to do those [phone gestures] on a watch and you quickly find out they don't work," he noted. That led to the creation of concepts such as Force Touch, which triggers different UI elements based on how firmly someone presses down on the display. The technology is already spreading to MacBook trackpads, and could come to the iPhone.
The CEO argues that the Apple Watch will be the "first modern smartwatch — the first one that matters," and that the people skeptical of its cost, usefulness, and market demand aren't much different from those who doubted the iPod. Regardless, in contrast with the iPhone, Apple isn't setting any marketshare goals.
"The watch needs the iPhone 5, 6, or 6 Plus to work, which creates a ceiling. But I think it's going to do well. I'm excited about it. I've been using it every day and I don't want to be without it," Cook commented. He also suggested that third-party app support would be essential to success, which is why WatchKit was released to developers last November.
When asked if the Apple product ecosystem is beginning to become unwieldy, since it now combines hardware, software, media content, and cloud services, Cook contended that Apple is avoiding the mistake of Microsoft by being willing to abandon from older technologies like DVD drives and 30-pin connectors.
He nevertheless admitted that as much as Apple tries to hide the complexity and engineering difficulty of its ecosystem from users, there are gaffes. "But that, too, we will fix," he charged.
He also acknowledged that Apple, like Steve Jobs, has sometimes flipped positions on topics. "Yes, there will be things where we say something and two years later we'll feel totally different. Actually, there may be things we say that we may feel totally different about in a week. We're okay with that. Actually, we think it's good that we have the courage to admit it."
One of the best-known examples is screen size. For the iPhone 5 and 5s, Apple went with a 4-inch display, even as some competing Android and Windows phones were exceeding 5 inches. The company even marketed its screens as easier to use, but jettisoned that policy last year by shipping the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
Cook lastly noted that Apple has left Jobs' old office largely untouched, down to the nameplate, the desk, and even whiteboard drawings made by his daughter Eve. He typically avoids going in, and doesn't know what the company will do with the space in the long run. "I don't know. His name should still be on the door. That's just the way it should be. That's what felt right to me."
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Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
56 Comments
For the second time in recent weeks, Cook is gently lowering our expectations for the Apple Watch. By saying that sales figures aren't important, he is, as the article notes, going in direct contrast to the advent of the iPhone, where Jobs set Apple a very specific target to hit—10 million. Jobs also aimed for 1% of the mobile phone market. It's good to see Cook admitting that he has the courage to change his mind on a dime, as Jobs did, if the situation changes. This will allow for the lowering of the Apple Watch prices, once it is clear that they are not selling. I expect this to become apparent within the first six months. It's also good to see him reminiscing on Jobs's old office. It's a nice homage to the great man. I like to think that Cook will earn a similar level of recognition in due course, though perhaps in a different way. Perhaps an aluminium cauldron. ????
I think the ?Watch will do well too. But it's not like the iPod, or the iPhone, nor the iPad in my mind. Everybody had a cell phone before the iPhone. Not everyone has a watch, or even wants one. The iPad likewise replaces the computer for many people -- it's a simpler, more convenient, and cheaper interface for what they're already using. People were buying MP3 players before the iPod came along, but they weren't easy to use. It wasn't the iPod itself that really changed Apple's destiny, it was iTunes and the ease of organizing all that music onto the iPod. Now I suppose one could liken the superior software and ease of use of the ?Watch to the iPod/iTunes phenomenon and the current smartwatch industry. But everybody listens to music, and slowly but surely they were going to replace their Walkmans with MP3 players. In a world where watches are not worn by a large demographic, and those who do for many different reasons, the prospect of a smart watch does not seem initially compelling. It's not necessarily improving the lives of someone already using a watch, or a smart watch/device. If anything in Apple's history, I see this more like the Apple II or Mac. It does things that many people are not already doing on their wrist. People had typewriters, photocopiers and calculators ... Why did they need expensive computers? And not everybody even needed a typewriter. But the computer could do more than just type letters, or calculate numbers. And now 30 years later almost everybody has one in their pocket. The ?Watch is far more than a fitness tracker, or watch, or a two-way pager. And it's going to take a while for people to figure out that they even need it -- not like the iPod or iPhone where it was the obvious way to go for a widespread population already using such devices.
Cook sounded very defensive in this interview. I guess he's experiencing what Jobs went through. Jobs was said to be depressed at the advent of the iPad because so many people were down on it in the media. How satisfying that he lived to see its success, albeit tinged with sadness that he didn't live to see its stratospheric rise after October 5th, 2011. It would be great if the Apple Watch were to play out the same way. Sadly, it's highly unlikely to happen.
The CEO argues that the Apple Watch will be the "first modern smartwatch -- the first one that matters," Yep. First one that "matters" is correct. The rest will be relegated to history books in short order, just like every other smartphone, tablet, and computer out there that did absolutely nothing to shift or influence the course of those industries. Apple is literary the only one who has dictated the core advances in all these products, which then permeated the industry. And BF, it's obviously not worth responding to you, but I'm sure you're aware how intellectually dishonest you're being, by citing the ONLY product example where jobs made any mention of market share goals- which was only for the purpose of showing how large the market was, and how even a tiny percentage is considered a massive success. If anything, he was lowering expectations. He didn't do it with the mac, iPod, the iPad, or anything else, but that fact wouldn't help your agenda. And of course, if Cook did set a sales goal (which would be such a moronic and limiting thing to do in this context) then you would of course be squealing about how it's evidence that Cook is all about sales numbers, and Steve was only focused on product quality.
It's not like they plan to abandon Infinite Loop, Jobs's office can stay where it is.