Optimistic about Apple’s future, Cook said there’s a “long, great roadmap of fantastic” products related to the Apple Watch and AirPods.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to members of the media at an Apple press event in San Francisco, California. (AFP Photo)(AFP)
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said he has ‘never
been more optimistic’ about where the company is today and where it’s heading.
In a pep talk to investors, Cook said the iPhone maker is “planting seeds” and
“rolling the dice” on future products that will just “blow you away.”
Speaking at the company’s
annual general meeting in Cupertino, California, Cook reiterated that the
iPhone maker is still on track to double revenue from services in 2020 from the
nearly $25 billion in 2016. Referencing speaking notes on an iPad, Cook touched
on several of the company’s product categories.
He said eventually the goal
is to lower the price on the $1,200 MacBook Air laptop with
a higher-resolution screen and said there’s a “long, great roadmap of
fantastic” products related to the Apple Watch and AirPods. He
indicated that more health features would come to the smartwatch.
Apple shares rose more than 1
percent in afternoon trading Friday in New York. The stock was down before Cook
started speaking.
Investors are waiting for
Apple to come up with a next big thing as demand for its best-selling product,
the iPhone, slows, leading to the company’s first holiday-quarter sales decline
since 2001. Cook has often mentioned augmented reality as a game changing
technology and Apple is working on a pair of AR glasses. In the meantime, the
company is focusing on a growing services businesses and rising sales of other
devices like the Watch and AirPods. Cook noted that Apple bought 18 companies
in 2018 and is constantly on the lookout for more acquisitions.
The CEO also fielded questions
from investors about privacy, diversity and politics. In an apparent jab at
Facebook Inc. and Google, Cook criticized companies that build data profiles of
their users, and reiterated that Apple is pushing for regulation against such
practice. One shareholder noted that although Apple management’s political
opinion appears to differ from the Trump administration’s
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