Tim Cook Speaks on Apple, iPhone, iPod

[MacRumors]

Apple's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, at a Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium today. The audio portion is available in Quicktime from Apple.com.

Cook fields questions about Apple, iPhone and more.

Today the cell phone industry, a lot of people pay $0 for the cell phone. Guess why? That's what its worth! If we offer something that has tremendous value that is sort of this thing that people didn't have in their consciousness, it was not imaginable... I think there are a bunch of people that will pay $499 or $599 and our target is clearly to hit 10 million and I would guess some of those people are paying $0 because its worth $0 and willing to pay a bit more because its worth more.

Transcript of relevant portions follows.

[Cult Follower]

I'm glad they are finally pushing out more details, but I will not be satisfied until the ship date.

[jonharris200]

Great to have more of the inside track from Tim.

I still wouldn't be surprised if they (a) reduce the launch price point a bit, or (b) launch the product a bit earlier than june.

Call me an optimist...

[noone]

My phone was $100 with two $50 mail in rebates. However, I never received the one so I only paid $50 anyways. However that is not my point. My point is that my phone was supposed to be free, but I quite like it. It is no iPhone don't get me wrong there either. Do I want an iPhone? Yes. Will I get an iPhone? I am going to try my best.

While I agree that usually the free phones are junk, I think that many people are too set in their ways to pay $600 for a phone wether it is worth it or not. But there a great many people who are willing to pay that for the iPhone so I could be wrong.

[topicolo]

Wow. Tim's a pretty awful communicator

[mashinhead]

Originally Posted by topicolo

Wow. Tim's a pretty awful communicator

yep. there is a little more that a *bit* of difference between $0 and $500 plus tax. I mean if you think about it after a year of cost for the iphone you could buy a macbook or an imac, that kinda puts things into a different perspective.

[twoodcc]

Originally Posted by Cult Follower

Go Tim!

thanks for cheering me on!

anyways, glad to see this. (or read i guess). can't wait for the iPhone!

[VanMac]

People will pay for the iPhone. Hope to see it soon.

[Huracan]

How do they come with the 10 million figure? I guess this has to be worldwide. Have they talked about how are they going to sell the iPhone beyond the Cingular alliance? I forgot, is this 10 million in the first year, first 5 years?
I simply don't get it, if Cingular gives you a rebate for signing up for a 2 year contract, why doesn't this happen for iPhone. I think this actually makes the iPhone cost at least two or three hundred dollars more than the 499, 599 if you take into account the missing rebates. Problem is that the iPod pricing model doesn't fit with the cellular industry devices pricing. Apple still wants to charge as if it was an iPod, and customers don't get to benefit from the usual rebates.

I am not sure what will be the future success of the iPhone, but I think the pricing strategy is not right. I am not blaming Apple. I am sure it was difficult to get a deal worked out with Cingular. Ideally Apple should have sold unlocked iPhones which would work on any GSM network, and then those 499 and 599 prices would make a lot of sense. I guess this would have made the big cellular companies like Cingular unhappy, and that's why they had to work out a deal.

Poor T-Mobile is the one who gets the worst part on the U.S. market. I am sure they would have liked to be able to offer the iPhone even if it is a pricey cell phone, but it would have given them status and visibility.

[Cult Follower]

I wish it was available on other networks such as Verizon, because AT&T doesn't have service in North Dakota . I might have to move.

[fatfish]

Originally Posted by VanMac

People will pay for the iPhone. Hope to see it soon.

Yes there's a whole bunch of people out there that will buy it just because it costs $ 600, don't know if there are 10 million of them though. Perhaps the slack will be taken up by those that will just buy the phone because it's from Apple.

[arn]

Updated the article with some additional Q/As.

arn

Q: Why no DVR functionality in the Apple TV?

A: It's not what it is. Our view is it's the DVD player of the 21st century, and so, we're not trying to be a DVR, be a set top box. We're all about taking the content already on your Mac or PC and watch it on your TV.

[FF_productions]

Originally Posted by arn

Updated the article with some additional Q/As.

arn

The TV is really overpriced. Disagree if you'd like but there is no chance in hell I will buy this for 300 dollars.

[rdrr]

Thats a bold statement for a product that hasn't even had one customer review.

Don't get me wrong, but seriously has there been one apple product that hasn't had rev A issues?

[mashinhead]

Originally Posted by FF_productions

The TV is really overpriced. Disagree if you'd like but there is no chance in hell I will buy this for 300 dollars.

yea i'm with you on that. I could use one, because i have a tv but no cable. i concluded the same thing and will pass. That thing should cost max $150.

But on the other hand i do agree with tim's comment. That is what the product is. it's not a dvr and not supposed to be.

[shadowfax]

Originally Posted by noone

While I agree that usually the free phones are junk, I think that many people are too set in their ways to pay $600 for a phone wether it is worth it or not. But there a great many people who are willing to pay that for the iPhone so I could be wrong.

I got my RAZR for about that. And my usage pattern is (I think) pretty typical... I use it for texting and for phone calls. I messed around with the camera a couple times, just to check it out... it wasn't too hard to use, but nothing spectacular.

But the more I use my RAZR, the more I think that its UI was designed by high schoolers. the Address book is god-awful. things as common as having multiple numbers for the same person are HORRENDOUSLY un-thought-out. the date book and alarm are ridiculous: you can't set event alarms to ring at the time of the event, or more than a single ring, the ring doesn't go off if your phone is on vibe (mine often is, as much as I am in class). If you set up an alarm, you have to disable it to make it stop ringing, and then navigate through the menu to it to re-enable it if you want it to go off the next day. It's got about as much consistency as homework scraped together right before class. the UI really is trash. Texting has that great word-guessing feature that is a superb time-saver, but it's not very consistent that you enter that mode (e.g., when you're entering someone's name in the address book, or the subject line). Calling has all these stupid things about it that you just have to memorize. Bleh. It really puts me off of using any of the phone's other features, which is money lost for cingular.

Personally, I am looking for something a little bit taller, wider and skinnier than the Motorola SLVR--no huge data capacity, no camera (i keep dreaming), just a sweet phone, with some basic email/web/SMS capability... although I could go for an all-in-one when 32GB flash becomes doable and affordable, 2 years from now.

In any case, you call it the same way Cook does, with more caveats: your caveat is, damn, that thing is expensive. But you're basically saying, a bunch of people talk like they want this, and it remains to be seen if they will put their money where their drooling mouths are, yeah? It should be interesting.

I think Apple just needs to sell a small number at first. 10 million is more than enough. enough to have people on the streets using them (making people jealous), raving to their friends how cool and worth it they are, and also demoing their features to friends. I know that Wi-Fi is going to be a jealousy-inspiring feature for me! Then they need to get some market control, leverage their iPod-massive-supply influence to negotiate favorable component pricing, etc, to drive price down. hopefully in 1-3 years we'll see some much more decent, direct competitors (I think the phone market will be much more robust than the MP3 Player market), along with a very affordable, wide range of iPhones. Like others, I am an optimist about this

[runninmac]

Im still upset with the reason of why they chose cingular to be their EXCLUSIVE carrier!

[tribulation]

I still do not see a point to the Apple TV. If it was also a DVR, I'd toss my Tivo in the trash instantly. Without it, what on earth would I want to watch? I'm not going to buy TV episodes that I can watch with Tivo for free, how many YouTube videos can you really want?

Ok so my family comes to visit for Hanukkah once a year. So I can play a few videos and show a couple pictures, neat. Besides that, what is this thing really good for? Am I just completely missing the point of it?

[TC2COOL]

Apple TV seems to be a misnomer. If it was truely 'TV' it should play what is on my TV, not what's on my Mac. A true Apple TV should be able to use ALL media.

[stephenli]

well, yes i think i am willing to pay $499 and contribute to their 1% market share....
but I totally disagree Tim's point for $0 phone worth $0.

some of them are quite nice, even equip with 3mp camera, optical zoom and full web browser...and some great designer phones in japan will be selling at $0 for several months after release!

iPhone is great, and we all know its great. It just doesnt make sense to promote your product by insulting the others.
We are not paying $0 and take away the phone. We need to pay a higher monthly service fee to the provider.

[rumplestiltskin]

...and it's called the 5G iPod. Drop your H264/MP4 content in your iPod, plug it into your TV and sit back.

The 5G iPod does, however, have one distinct advantage: It will play standard definition TV whereas the AppleTV, apparently, will not. So if I don't own a big-screen LCD/Plasma display, the AppleTV holds no interest for me.

[merge]

Originally Posted by mashinhead

yea i'm with you on that. I could use one, because i have a tv but no cable. i concluded the same thing and will pass. That thing should cost max $150.

But on the other hand i do agree with tim's comment. That is what the product is. it's not a dvr and not supposed to be.

I think it was the wrong question to ask...
They should go beyond that it isn't a DVR because it isn't one.

They should have asked why they chose to make it a set top box alone and not include DVR functionality.

It is a strange product in my opinion. Way overpriced for what it is.
The ONLY way this product will succeed is if they throw in a bigger HD and DVR functionality... or they develop a rental service to download movies...
and even in that case... it is still too expensive.

[mpstrex]

No DVR? I think that'd make the TV a big hit...

mpstrex

[Lucy Brown]

People are going to buy into the hype of the expensive new iphone. How many? Who knows. I thought the Razr was cool but not worth the money they wanted for it. I suspect I'm not going to buy the iphone either. If they offer my a rebate for switching carriers I may think about it but if they dont I'll pass.

I have no interest in tv unless I can rent movies and they play them in 5.1 surround. I think they missed the boat by not launching it with rentals and with a tuner so i can record and watch tv shows on my mac or my tv.

[ravenvii]

Originally Posted by tribulation

I still do not see a point to the Apple TV. If it was also a DVR, I'd toss my Tivo in the trash instantly. Without it, what on earth would I want to watch? I'm not going to buy TV episodes that I can watch with Tivo for free, how many YouTube videos can you really want?

Ok so my family comes to visit for Hanukkah once a year. So I can play a few videos and show a couple pictures, neat. Besides that, what is this thing really good for? Am I just completely missing the point of it?

It's for the content you got from the iTunes Store. The basic idea is that you replace your DVD collection with your iTunes collection, and all of your movies, TV shows, music, and yes, your own photos, media, and more, are accessible from the TV, right in your living room, all with a single tiny remote.

Originally Posted by rumplestiltskin

...and it's called the 5G iPod. Drop your H264/MP4 content in your iPod, plug it into your TV and sit back.

The 5G iPod does, however, have one distinct advantage: It will play standard definition TV whereas the AppleTV, apparently, will not. So if I don't own a big-screen LCD/Plasma display, the AppleTV holds no interest for me.

The TV has component. Many current SD TVs have component, so the TV isn't only for HD TVs.