Tim Cook Talks iPhone 6s, Social Responsibility, and More on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'

[peterdevries]

You forgot to type "in my humble opinion" before your well considered and balanced post.

Steve Jobs was a founder and leader of the company. He ran it in a very extreme way which suited his style, and was able to squeeze out some very good products during his time. All businesses have ups and downs, businesses are like civilisations and empires, they may rise, but all fall. Apple will fall at some point. Who is to say that Steve jobs would have overseen the release of any more game changers (if you consider the watch useless, for example, you must have very high expectations). It could have just as well gone the other way of his extreme views blinding him to market movements such that apple may have been on a downfall now (because, despite what you say, based on any logical or rational measure, they certainly aren't under Tim Cook).

As for broader issues, people in power do have a certain responsibility toward the greater good. In many ways very famous people have more power than politicians to change the world, or our day to day lives. Tech CEOs are a new kind of celebrity. Apple is immensely powerful. What a sad world where people would advocate the kind of selfish management of the company that Steve jobs championed, over something a little more human that Tim Cook is trying to achieve.

It is up to the leader of the day how they choose to lead. Of course Tim Cook runs things differently to his predecessor - and that's about all you established in your post. For him to try to lead in a way he didn't believe in would be a sure way to fail. And remember, Steve Jobs himself put Cook in place.

Do you think he would be surprised how the company is being run?

Really good post and totally agree. One additional factor that plays here is the maturity of the company and the market. Both influence greatly how innovation works and how effective a company is at innovation. I recently wrote an article on LinkedIn about the influence of business structure on innovation.

I would be interested in what you think:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inno...eation-something-new-peter?trk=mp-author-card

 

[Zaft]

I fee bad for the lady in pink, Tim ignored her.

 

[jpgr15]

How is it opportunistic to criticize a famous public figure? I like Cook more than Jobs but I wish he could at least admit Jobs was wrong to never bring back philanthropy once the company became obscenely profitable. It's sad that he nor anyone who works at Apple can say a single bad thing about the guy, even when the information is out there and clear as day that he was not a saint.

Steve was far from perfect, as we all are - I think everyone knows that. We are all humans and make mistakes. To your point, Steve and Tim were good friends. I don't blame Tim for not speaking poorly of Steve - especially when Steve isn't here to defend himself. Who bashes their personal friends once they have passed? Just because Steve was a public figure doesn't give people the right to hold him to unworldly expectations. We all have our faults.

 

[SlipperySlop]

Steve Jobs would have never gone on the show

And you know this how?
Why is it that so many think that everything that happens with Apple has to the "way Steve would have done it". Don't get me wrong. I loved Jobs. He made Apple what it is today. But that doesn't mean that he was perfect or that there aren't other ways to do things. I'm sure Cook isn't perfect. But he's been a great leader and it just isn't fair or intelligent to always compare Cook to Jobs.

 

[drumpat01]

Thank you so much for this!

 

[wigby]

What I keep thinking is, they probably should have sent Craig Federighi instead. Sure, he is not the CEO, but he has a lot of charisma. Tim isn't particularly bad at this, but he seems kind of tense when he's making his points. He isn't messing up anything, but it seems like he prepared for this word by word, which seems like he's lacking some passion.

No one knows who Craig Federighi is and no one wants him (including Craig) to be the face of Apple. That leaves the CEO. And people want the scripted CEO as much as they want a John Legere for instance. What Apple and shareholders don't want is someone shooting off their mouth and responding off the cuff when China is in a major economic downturn. Don't believe me? Some Wall Street analysts are actually crediting Tim Cook's email to Jim Cramer as saving trillions of dollars that would have been lost in the market. It might not be true but sometimes it only takes a measured and scripted approach to ease the world economy.

 

[HenryDJP]

How is it opportunistic to criticize a famous public figure? I like Cook more than Jobs but I wish he could at least admit Jobs was wrong to never bring back philanthropy once the company became obscenely profitable. It's sad that he nor anyone who works at Apple can say a single bad thing about the guy, even when the information is out there and clear as day that he was not a saint.

You're only looking at this from a personal side, which is wrong with a lot of people here. Regardless what Tim or anyone's feelings are about Jobs or any other big figure at Apple it's unprofessional of them to publicly say anything negative about another colleague or executive. That's just common sense. Just as it's looked down upon for any of us on this forum to publicly talk crap about another forum member in other posts.

I'm honestly shocked at your post..... (eh, not really). With social media getting any negative news out within seconds, if Tim felt that he needed to put down Jobs for not bringing back philanthropy that type of news would go widespread in seconds and cause an uproar. And is that really necessary? Tim could just bring back philanthropy and let people see that Apple is moving on without Jobs. No need to trash Jobs in the process.

And as far as Jobs not being a "Saint", I'd like you to tell me how many CEO's of major corporations that you know personally that ARE saints. I'm confident enough to know that you couldn't name one. Most, if not all heads of big companies are taskmasters and difficult. They are running a company and not trying to be people's buddies. It's just some people get more press than others. I've heard quite a handful of bad things said about Bill Gates as well.

Martha Stewart heads of her company and she's known to be a tyrant. Her company is also very successful and that's why. Nice guys will always finish last because if you don't have a backbone people will stomp all over you.

What's actually sad is by the looks of your post you seem to want to create public drama and just want Jobs name dragged in the mud because you didn't like his personality or what you "Heard" about him. Newsflash, he was the same as every other successful CEO running a large corporation.

 

[stars_fan]

Its good to see Apple open up a little. I am sure the show was well scripted and somewhat vetted before Tim was in the hot seat, but it does seem Apple is being a little more open compared to the Steve Jobs era. Good to see the focus on charity and leaving the world a better place (and not simply because of the changes their products have made).

Leaving the USA a better place?

Surely you don't think they're leaving China in better shape

 

[chitoac]

Wish I could say the same - I'm a 27 year Mac user, a former Apple employee, and I'll take Google Now over Siri any day of the week. Outside the US it's next to useless, and the voice recognition on non US accents leaves an awful lot to be desired. Google nails it every single time.

i live outside US and speak spanish, siri works great for me...

 

[HenryDJP]

Why does he always wear jeans never seen him in a complete suit.

Because Apple is a laid back company. Jobs and everybody at Apple didn't wear stuffy suits.

 

[Doc C]

You're only looking at this from a personal side, which is wrong with a lot of people here. Regardless what Tim or anyone's feelings are about Jobs or any other big figure at Apple it's unprofessional of them to publicly say anything negative about another colleague or executive. That's just common sense. Just as it's looked down upon for any of us on this forum to publicly talk crap about another forum member in other posts.

I'm honestly shocked at your post..... (eh, not really). With social media getting any negative news out within seconds, if Tim felt that he needed to put down Jobs for not bringing back philanthropy that type of news would go widespread in seconds and cause an uproar.

And as far as Jobs not being a "Saint", I'd like you to tell me how many CEO's of major corporations that you know personally that ARE saints. I'm confident enough to know that you couldn't name one. Most, if not all heads of big companies are taskmasters and difficult. They are running a company and not trying to be people's buddies. It's just some people get more press than others. I've heard quite a handful of bad things said about Bill Gates as well.

Martha Stewart heads of her company and she's known to be a tyrant. Her company is also very successful and that's why. Nice guys will always finish last because if you don't have a backbone people will stomp all over you.

What's actually sad is by the looks of your post you just want Jobs name dragged in the mud because you didn't like his personality or what you "Heard" about him. Newsflash, he's was the same as every other successful CEO running a large corporation.

To back this up, there is a 40-point scale for sociopathy/psychopathy (the clinical definition, not the definition as used in the lay press). [It was developed by Dr. Hare, from Vancouver, BC, Canada, if anyone cares to look it up - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist] The higher you rate on the scale, the greater the tendency towards self-absorbed and anti-social behaviour (a gross oversimplification, but it will suffice).

Most CEOs of Fortune 100 companies rate in the top quartile, not too far below the range that serial killers and other similar criminals rate. Interestingly, many physicians also rate in that range, especially surgeons...

 

[macduke]

My questions below. Reporters, please feel free to steal them if you want:

The new iPhone 6S records 4K videos and 12mp live photos by default. Is the cost savings of using 16GB instead of 32GB in the base model iPhone worth the customer confusion and hit to the Apple Brand when their device quickly runs out of space?

Follow up questions: Given the limited storage on the base model iPhone 6S, is it even worth charging a tiny fee of $0.99/mo for 50GB of storage? Would you ever consider bundling iCloud Drive for free to match the internal device storage? For instance, an iPhone 6S 64GB would come with 64GB of iCloud Drive storage.

High-profile Mac developer Bohemian Coding, creator of the popular Sketch design app, recently said "Apps on iOS sell for unsustainably low prices due to the lack of trials. We cannot port Sketch to the iPad [Pro] if we have no reasonable expectation of earning back on our investment." Given the importance of premium and professional apps for the success of the iPad Pro, what can Apple do to address these concerns and help raise the selling price for professional apps?

Given the 200MB app limitation (at any given time, can download to swap in data) for the App Store on the Apple TV, what is the point of offering a 64GB model? What can you actually store on the device? Up-sell me.

Many think requiring the simplistic controller on the Apple TV severely limits the types of games that can be played on the device. For instance, a hit game like Minecraft would be unplayable but very popular with families and children. Was this done by design to keep gaming on the device extremely casual and simple?

Follow up questions: Many think Apple building a first-party remote controller would help boost the popularity of such devices. Why has Apple not done so? Why does there appear to be a deep-seated dislike for gamers and gaming culture at Apple? Will Apple ever take gaming seriously? (yes, the age-old question)

What is Apple doing to improve the reliability and performance of their cloud infrastructure?

Many people, particularly in my experience women prefer a smaller device. Some people have hands that are too small to comfortably operate the newer iPhone sizes. Is Apple looking at supporting these users going forward or should they pick up a 4" or smaller Android device?

Some say the size of a 12.9" iPad Pro is too big to carry around with them during the day. Would you consider adding Apple Pencil support to smaller iPads in the future?

Many professionals need access to a file system to manage assets for complex projects. Any plans to address this need beyond the basics of the iCloud Drive app on the iPad Pro?

Tabs in Safari, particularly on older devices like the iPhone 6 and iPad Air and earlier, seem to constantly reload. Other times pages crash, especially on larger devices like the iPhone 6 Plus. Are Apple engineers looking at improving the caching mechanism in Safari? Why does Safari seem to exhibit this problem while many third-party browsers do not?

You can only use one Apple device for the rest of your life. Which one would it be and why?

You're hungry. Which type of Apple do you reach for?

Why is the iPhone 6S coming out next Friday and not this Friday ​

 

[pat500000]

For being a numbers, logistics, and supply chain guy, he's so personable and well-spoken.

Apple, and this world for that matter, may never see another visionary like Jobs, but it would suit them to continue to recruit and collaborate more with "...the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently."

The only thing apple are currently seeing is money. More money bending all the rules...more money being quantity and not quality. More money bringing buggy OS X.

 

[chitoac]

ORLY? Apple isn't "opportunistic"?

*looks at iPad and MacBook lineup*

iPad Air 1, iPad Mini 2.... why are these even for sale??
iPad Air 2... why didn't this get an upgrade??
MacBook Air... why no Retina??

I'm sure other products that others would complain about--the iPod for one.

not everyone can pay full price of new things.......
soo you have the option to buy cheaper ones but with less capacity.... jeeezzz plz dont work on anything related with sales

 

[lkrupp]

The only thing apple are currently seeing is money. More money bending all the rules...more money being quantity and not quality. More money bringing buggy OS X.

Patently dumb assertion.

 

[pat500000]

Patently dumb assertion.

Prove me wrong.

 

[harley3k]

Hey, Siri...

When will I be able to watch CBS on my AppleTV without using Airplay and Mirroring the screen from the stupid CBS app?

 

[Tech198]

hehe... can i get a raise...

Cook looks happy..

there is still a line between automated assistent and real comedy. although the voice may have been real the fact its been digitized is the key that is missing.

Stlll never will feel natural... for some reason.

 

[jdoll021]

You forgot to type "in my humble opinion" before your well considered and balanced post.

Steve Jobs was a founder and leader of the company. He ran it in a very extreme way which suited his style, and was able to squeeze out some very good products during his time. All businesses have ups and downs, businesses are like civilisations and empires, they may rise, but all fall. Apple will fall at some point. Who is to say that Steve jobs would have overseen the release of any more game changers (if you consider the watch useless, for example, you must have very high expectations). It could have just as well gone the other way of his extreme views blinding him to market movements such that apple may have been on a downfall now (because, despite what you say, based on any logical or rational measure, they certainly aren't under Tim Cook).

As for broader issues, people in power do have a certain responsibility toward the greater good. In many ways very famous people have more power than politicians to change the world, or our day to day lives. Tech CEOs are a new kind of celebrity. Apple is immensely powerful. What a sad world where people would advocate the kind of selfish management of the company that Steve jobs championed, over something a little more human that Tim Cook is trying to achieve.

It is up to the leader of the day how they choose to lead. Of course Tim Cook runs things differently to his predecessor - and that's about all you established in your post. For him to try to lead in a way he didn't believe in would be a sure way to fail. And remember, Steve Jobs himself put Cook in place.

Do you think he would be surprised how the company is being run?

Very well said. I believe even Steve himself told Tim to not try and be like Steve. I believe Steve recognized that his time was nearing an end and he wanted Tim to take ownership of the company and make Apple his, not living in Steve's shadow. I don't agree with everything Tim has done with Apple or with everything Apple does, but Tim has definitely done just that, made Apple his company.

 

[Mac 128]

Am I the only one that noticed everyone speaking at the keynote last week wore an Apple Watch? Not just Apple's people, everybody.

Ha! No I didn't notice that. Well it's a great product, or they're all sucking up to Apple, or Apple required it (possibly by giving them all one thus making them an offer they couldn't refuse). I'd like to know how many attending were wearing them ...

As far as I can tell, he's had an Apple Watch for a while now. However I had never seen him rocking the link bracelet until he announced the Apple interview on Twitter. Maybe now that he has the link bracelet he can rock it on TV, rather than wearing a sports band for example.

The Twitter announcement came last week when he was wearing his traditional watch. So he could have been wearing it then instead. He also appears to be wearing the same suit every show, that also match the upholstery, which I find kind of disturbing. Maybe he has a few watches he likes to wear, and like his suits, wears them for a week at a time ... I don't wear my Watch all the time, only when I need to use those features. I don't care about notifications at all. In fact, the watch is probably the most distracting watch a TV host could wear while he's working from that perspective. And a traditional watch looks better on TV, the Watch is just a black reflective square on his wrist. But he obviously had to wear one with Cook on the show.

 

[jdoll021]

In college, I had a co-worker that did those calls. She told me the best thing to do with those that you don't want to talk to is just say, "no, thank you" and hang up on them.

They don't have a "hang up" button, or if they do, they have to document why they hung up on the person (abuse, threats, etc.) or have a supervisor push the hang up button.

More often than not, it's not someone at home making these calls to you.

Someone told me awhile ago that the best way to handle those is when they call, you just say "yeah, sure, can you hold on for a minute?" Then you put the phone down and wait until they've been disconnected. The rationale was that it costs them money to make those calls and the longer they spend "on hold" with you, the more money it wastes for them. If you do it every time they call, they'll eventually stop and take your name off the list because you're turning into a financial drain for them.

First time I tried it was with someone who kept calling every night at the same time (the proverbial dinner interrupter). Needless to say, they never called again after that.

 

[gixxerfool]

Ha! No I didn't notice that. Well it's a great product, or they're all sucking up to Apple, or Apple required it (possibly by giving them all one thus making them an offer they couldn't refuse). I'd like to know how many attending were wearing them ...



The Twitter announcement came last week when he was wearing his traditional watch. So he could have been wearing it then instead. He also appears to be wearing the same suit every show, that also match the upholstery, which I find kind of disturbing. Maybe he has a few watches he likes to wear, and like his suits, wears them for a week at a time ... I don't wear my Watch all the time, only when I need to use those features. I don't care about notifications at all. In fact, the watch is probably the most distracting watch a TV host could wear while he's working from that perspective. And a traditional watch looks better on TV, the Watch is just a black reflective square on his wrist. But he obviously had to wear one with Cook on the show.

I only noticed it cause I thought it was odd the Microsoft rep had one on during his presentation. So I started looking for it.

 

[Cuechick]

Very funnny (duh) love the part when he asks about using the same charger. You also get a great look at the Rose Gold color for all those concerned about it.

 

[FightTheFuture]

Wish I could say the same - I'm a 27 year Mac user, a former Apple employee, and I'll take Google Now over Siri any day of the week. Outside the US it's next to useless, and the voice recognition on non US accents leaves an awful lot to be desired. Google nails it every single time.

I agree with you regarding Google Now. I use Siri several times a day and it isn't perfect but I wouldn't want to buy an Android phone because of accurate voice commands.

By the way, prefacing a post that you were an Apple employee and longtime mac user doesn't give you credibility over anyone else - just saying.

Very funnny (duh) love the part when he asks about using the same charger.

I thought that was a little weird actually, the lighting connector was released two years ago and noone complains about it now - Did you see the monologue? Colbert had a good joke about autocorrect that I found very timely

 

[Matthew.H]

Quite hard to find a decent copy of this in the UK but I managed to. I like Tim's style. It's casual, like he's just in your front room chatting with you. A good interview.

Have you got a link to the decent copy? I'm in the UK as well.