“Apple Car”: in an interview, Tim Cook speaks openly about the car market

Seizing the occasion (Apple was elected for the ninth time in a row the most admired company in the world for Fortune), the publication decided to interview Tim Cook to talk about Apple as a whole.

Cook talked about Apple's last financial quarter (he doesn't care about the criticisms / doubts mainly related to slowing down sales of iPhones, only if the company is doing what the focus / north of it: the best products to enrich the lives of consumers ), crisis (for many, a period of opportunity; Cook himself emphasized the fact that companies are cheaper for possible acquisitions, opening space to generate more innovations within Apple), Apple's product mix and dependence on the iPhone (for Cook, it doesn’t really matter as long as Apple is making the best products; proof of that is now more than 1 billion Apple devices per year and the billing of company services doesn’t stop growing), among other things.

But the interview was really interesting when Adam Lashinsky asked Cook about the "Apple Car". The journalist asked why the CEO simply does not confirm as soon as the company is working on a car project as there is even a list on Wikipedia with names of people linked to the automotive sector who are working at Ma.

The executive then said that he would not do that because "the great thing about being here (in this situation) that we are curious". He continued, “We explore technologies and explore products. And we're always thinking of ways that Apple can make great products that people like, how to help them in some way. And we don't fall into many categories, as you know. We edit a lot. We talk about a lot of things and do less. We debate a lot of things and do a lot less. ”

On investing a lot of money in something that does not necessarily become a product, Cook replied that he could, but that the company does not have to spend so much to explore new products / markets.

But when we start to spend large amounts of money, we are committed to that point. But we explore things with teams of people. And that is part of being curious. Part of exploring technologies and choosing the right path to the point where you are so familiar with it that you can see ways in which it can be used. We were never (concerned) to be the first. We think of always being the best. So, let's explore many different things, many different technologies. And in the beginning we may not know how to be the product. And then, let's see that this really cool technology allows, perhaps, the things we are doing today to become something bigger, maybe something new. But once we start spending lots of money like when we start spending on tools and things like that we are committed.

Lashinsky then asked whether investing in thousands of people (employed in a certain area to exploit a market) and tools was the same thing in terms of wasting money. For Cook, no. They are completely different things in case the business / product does not go ahead and is not launched.

Continuing the conversation about the automotive market, Lashinsky wanted to know if Cook believes in the idea of ​​a factory (like a Foxconn for life) to assemble cars for a certain company. That is, if today's automakers could outsource their production, as is currently the case with smartphones, tablets, computers and just about everything we see around the world.

For Cook, this scenario is possible. Although the automotive industry was born with this characteristic of making its own cars, Cook sees no obstacle, no fundamental reason for possible outsourcing to occur.

In the interview Cook also says that Apple Pay will expand further in the US (in number of stores that accept the service), that the future “spaceship” campus should be ready in early 2017 and that they are talking to Steve's family Jobs to honor him in some way in the new space.