Monday night on Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook talked about new product categories in his opening remarks. While this isn’t new news, his further explanation hinted at what Apple could be cooking up next in Cupertino. “In terms of new product categories, specifically if you look at the skills that Apple has from hardware, software and services and at incredible app ecosystems, these set of things are very, very unique,” Cook said on the call. “I think no one has a set of skills like us and we obviously believe that we can use our skills in building other great products that are in categories that represent areas where we do not participate today. So we’re pretty confident about that.”
Those are exceptionally profound statements, and reading between the lines, as most of us in the media are apt to do, it’s clear that Apple is working on an integrated product, akin to an “iWatch,” or perhaps something related to television.
Apple’s expertise, as Cook mentions, is that it has an ability to seamlessly integrate its software into aesthetically pleasing, easy to use hardware unlike other tech companies. Google has just started rolling out its own products, unveiling the Moto X recently. Microsoft’s hardware/software products have been mixed, with Xbox receiving rave reviews, but the Surface tablets being panned by the press.
There’s been much speculation about what new product categories Apple is working on next, and while the comments don’t actively spell out iWatch, television, or another iDevice, they do give you a look into Apple’s thinking and how it approaches a new product category. Apple sees a market that is ripe for innovation and meticulously works on a product to get it right before launch, ultimately unveiling it to the masses for all the world to see.
Apple rarely, if ever, gives a look into its line of thinking as it approaches new product categories, much less ever talks about new products. In the past, Cook has hinted about the television experience or said that the wrist is an interesting place on the body for wearable technology, but hasn’t gone much into detail much further than that. The comments he made were profound and bold, and will likely be the big take away from the earnings call as focus shifts towards the holiday shopping season and into fiscal 2014.
There’s only one thing left to figure out. Just what new product categories is Cook talking about?
