Tim Cook gave a rare public interview on Monday night at the Wall Street Journal’s new tech conference, WSJD. The Apple CEO touched on a range of topics, including Apple Pay’s success, a big potential partnership, why the iPod classic was discontinued, and more.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Cook’s comments:
iPhone will be Apple’s cash cow for awhile
Why does iPhone rule Apple? In the long arc, there’s going to be a lot more phones sold, says @tim_cook #WSJDLive pic.twitter.com/x8BQpJ7s1B
— Geoffrey Fowler (@geoffreyfowler) October 28, 2014
Cook sees the iPhone accounting for at least 50% of the company’s revenue for the next five years. “The iPhone will continue to be a majority of the company’s revenue and profits,” he said.
Apple Pay is already the biggest name in mobile payments
One million people signed up for Apple Pay in the first 72 hours, making it already bigger than “the other guys,” as Cook put it. “I feel fantastic,” he said.
CVS blocking Apple Pay is a “skirmish”
Cook briefly touched on the news that CVS and Rite Aid are blocking Apple Pay in favor of MCX. He called it a “skirmish” and noted that merchants will only be relevant if they are loved by their customers. Burn.
Apple Watch will need to be recharged daily
Cook thinks the watch is “profound” because of what it could unlock for peoples’ health and productivity. While Apple has yet to give any official battery life stats, Cook said “we think people are going to use it so much you will end up charging it daily.”
For the Mac, all market share isn’t created equal
“Would you rather own the Mac business or any of the Windows OEMS?” @tim_cook asks. pic.twitter.com/opxJZY3qxg
— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) October 28, 2014
The Mac is an excellent business for Apple to be in, especially given that sales are up while the rest of the PC industry is tanking.
iPod Classic’s death caused by lack of parts
Apple stopped making the iPod Classic because “we couldn’t get the parts anywhere on earth” and it wasn’t practical to design a new one.
Potential Alibaba partnership on the horizon
Cook is meeting with Alibaba’s Jack Ma later this week to discuss a potential partnership. “I have the utmost respect for Jack,” said Cook. “We love to partner with people who are wicked smart, have flexible teams, who are product based and push us. I think Jack has a company that’s exactly like that. If we can find some areas of common space, I’d love it.”
Could that mean some kind of Apple Pay/Alipay integration down the road? Maybe!
