Apple held its annual shareholder meeting earlier today, an event that allows shareholders to ask Apple executives direct questions and vote on all types of issues pertinent to the company’s day-to-day business.
While nothing particularly groundbreaking transpired at today’s meeting, Tim Cook did touch on a number of interesting and wide-ranging issues. For instance, when the issue of TV programming was broached, Cook essentially said that Apple remains solely focused on original content, which is to say we won’t ever see Apple pay top dollar for familiar franchises like Friends or The Office.
“We love ‘Friends.’ Who doesn’t love ‘Friends’?” Cook asked rhetorically. “It’s not what
While the wisdom of such a strategy remains up for debate, there are a few other tidbits from the shareholder meeting worth highlighting as well.
With respect to the coronavirus, which may have an adverse impact on the iPhone 12 release later this year, Cook didn’t mention too much aside from the fact that it’s a dynamic situation and that Apple is primarily focused on the health of its employees.
As for Apple’s environmental efforts, Tim Cook said that Apple would ideally like to figure out a way to create products “without taking anything from the earth.”It seems far-fetched, to be sure, but Cook emphasized that Apple will “find a way to do it.”
At one point, a shareholder asked Cook about the dispute Apple has with the FBI over unlocking iPhones belonging to the Pensacola shooter. As you might expect, Cook emphasized that Apple will never cede to the FBI’s demand and create a backdoor.
Tim Cook asked about dispute with DoJ/FBI on unlocking iPhones:
“In essence the question is should Apple have a backdoor, or the should government, into your iPhones. And we say no. (applause)…You put a backdoor in your house and anybody can come in. A phone is the same way.”
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) February 26, 2020
Cook’s answer here shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that he previously categorized a backdoor into the iPhone as “the ‘software equivalent of cancer.'”
As a final point, Cook talked in predictably vague terms about Apple’s product pipeline, noting that the company continues to invest in a lot of things, “most of which I can’t tell you about, but they’re really cool.”
