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Tim Cook on Revealing Apple's Car Plans: 'Yeah, I'm Probably Not Going to Do That'

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Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed a range of topics in an interview with Fortune posted online today. Although Cook skirted the topic of the Apple Car, eventually Fortune brought up the recent hiring of automobile industry people by Apple, and asked Cook to put the rumors to rest once and for all.
Yeah, I'm probably not going to do that. The great thing about being here is we're curious people. We explore technologies, and we explore products.

And we're always thinking about ways that Apple can make great products that people love, that help them in some way. And we don't go into very many categories, as you know. We edit very much. We talk about a lot of things and do fewer. We debate many things and do a lot fewer.
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According to Cook, the addition of people from the automotive industry isn't a confirmation of the Apple Car, but simply a way for Apple to "explore things with teams of people." Once an idea gets past that stage, and the company begins "spending large amounts of money," that's when Cook and the team are "committed" to seeing the project through to the end. Although he doesn't directly confirm it, the suggestion hints that Apple's potential smart car is in the exploratory phase.
Part of exploring technologies and picking the right one is becoming so familiar with it you can see ways that it can be used. And for us, we've never been about being first. We've been about being best. So we explore many different things, many different technologies. And at first we might not know what product it might wind up in. And then later we'll see that that really cool technology enables maybe things that we're doing today to take on something bigger, maybe something new. But once we start spending gobs of money--like when we start spending on tooling and things like that--we're committed.
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Cook also touched on the topic of Apple occupying an era of "peak iPhone," thanks to a Q1 2016 fiscal quarter that saw iPhone sales remain largely "flat" from the same time last year (74.8 million iPhones in 2016 compared to 74.5 million in 2015). Cook said that he and Apple attempt to ignore such chatter and focus on the tenets of customer satisfaction and product quality, believing that "over time," he's sure "that everything else will catch up."

The Apple CEO ended with hinting that the company's newest headquarters will open in "early 2017," although a specific date has yet to be set. The name of the new campus is still up in the air as well, but Cook said that it will in some way pay homage to Steve Jobs and that Apple is "working with Laurene [Powell Jobs, Steve's widow] and the family" on specifically deciding which direction to take with honoring the late CEO.

Check out Fortune's full Q&A with Tim Cook here.

Article Link: Tim Cook on Revealing Apple's Car Plans: 'Yeah, I'm Probably Not Going to Do That'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/22/tim-cook-apples-car-plans/
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Reactions: ArtOfWarfare
Anyone at Apple will always deny the development of a product, we shall see in a few years what's going on behind those doors!
 
I don't think Apple should name their campus after SJ. Jobs hated looking to the past. He didn't like talking about how the Apple 2 was the bread and butter of the company. He got rid of the Apple museum. He got rid of PowerPC because he wanted to make the best products looking forward. He wanted to look forward and he would want the new campus to look forward.
 
As far as the naming of the new campus is concerned, I'd say that building is definitely an 'Infinite Loop', Steve's hand-picked name for the old campus.

That's surely a way of honoring him in the new campus, without plastering his name all over the building.




Edit: As mbrannon47 pointed out @post30 below, I was wrong about IL being Steve's hand-picked name for the old campus, but imho I still think Infinite Loop would make a good name for the new 'spaceship' campus for the other reasons I gave.
 
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Maybe their only desire in working with cars is to produce something like a Hipster Hobo HomeKit for those that are homeless and live in a car. Why should those old fashion people who want to be tied down with roots and have a home be the only ones that can change the temperature of their dwelling with a smart phone, or have lights that change color depending on the mood of their song?
 
Considering that Chevy is coming out with the Bolt next year, and Tesla will eventually release the Tesla 3 within the next 2 years (probably), Apple's car better be spectacular if it is an electric or revolutionary if it is some other type of fuel or multiple power car. Releasing something with about the same range and cost while being third or 4th to market isn't a formula for success.
 
illicit2k1 said:
if you carefully read the headline it's clear, but of course, they are taking advantage of this quote for clicks.

he's saying "I'm probably not going to [reveal the plans]"
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It's a given that it's a marketing stunt. The clickbait, fuzzy verbiage, treating audiences like 5 year olds with "Is Apple going to ____", and so on is so incredibly trite...
 
Tim Cook: "You've seen that Silicon Valley TV show, yeah? Hooli xyz was so inspiring, we have some guys doing crazy stuff like mounting potato cannons on cars."
 
macintologist said:
I don't think Apple should name their campus after SJ. Jobs hated looking to the past....He got rid of PowerPC because he wanted to make the best products looking forward.
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What? SJ ditched the PPC because Moto was increasingly late delivering chips. PPC was an out and out debacle at the end of its era. Any Apple CEO would have dumped Moto at that point seeing it would lead Apple to eventual bankruptcy b/c it wouldn't have a single relevant computer to sell. Forget about making the best product, he needed to make competitive ones for the prices Apple charged.
 
I'm sick of Cook saying "We don't want to be first, we want to be best." I LOVED the 17" MBP. I loved the risk and attempt to make something great that nobody else made. I loved the backlit keyboard that nobody had. I could use dozens of more examples in the SJ days. Tim, it's okay to risk and go for something nobody has done and be the best at the same time.
 
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I keep hearing lip service from interviews and a bit from the local store about Apple's commitment to business customers. But a year and a half and no new hardware, continuing to strip away functionality and options that make it harder for admins to make the machines work effectively for us. We use Macs because Windows -- well, because Windows -- but with one vendor for both HW and OS, we either need more refreshes or at least some insight into what's coming down the pike. Apple's not the only one with an accounting department, annual budgets to make, strategic planning to do, etc. Enterprise & SMB is about more than CEOs impressing their peers at conferences with multitasking; it's about security, accountability, data integrity, inter-operability with other systems, and more.
 
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