From iPad Pro to privacy: 8 things we learned from Tim Cook’s latest interview

Tim Cook is in my home country of Jolly Old Blighty (read: the U.K.) at the moment, promoting the imminent launch of the iPad Pro.

While there, he’s given an interview to the Telegraph newspaper, in which Apple’s CEO touches on everything from the new Apple TV to the U.K.’s rumored “snooper’s charter” to, of course, Apple’s super-sized tablet.

Check out the lessons we learned below.

The iPad Pro will replace your Mac

“Yes, the iPad Pro is a replacement for a notebook or a desktop for many, many people,” Cook says. “They will start using it and conclude they no longer need to use anything else, other than their phones.”

Given that Mac sales continue to rise, while iPad sales decline, Cook clearly isn’t worried that people are going to stop buying desktops or notebooks any time soon.

The iPad Pro was a response to larger iPhones

The writing was clearly on the wall for tablet sales once Apple announced larger iPhones back in 2014, while the enormous success of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s and 6s Plus have taught the lesson that bigger = better.

“I think if you have the larger phone, you’re less likely to have the iPad mini,” Cook says. While he claims that demand won’t fall to zero, “I think it clearly created some cannibalization – which we knew would occur – but we don’t really spend any time worrying about that, because as long as we cannibalize [ourselves], it’s fine.” Hopefully a plus-sized iPad will solve the problem.

Don’t expect FDA approval for Apple Watch

Cook hints that Apple has more plans for the “health sphere,” but doesn’t want the Apple Watch to become a regulated, government-licensed device. “We don’t want to put the watch through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) process,” he says.

“I wouldn’t mind putting something adjacent to the Watch through it, but not the Watch, because it would hold us back from innovating too much, the cycles are too long. But you can begin to envision other things that might be adjacent to it — maybe an app, maybe something else.”

Apple’s still not spilling the beans about Watch sales

“I think we will set a new [sales] record this quarter; so things are going well,” is all he’ll say. According to a recent report, Apple has shipped close to 7 million Watches since launch — although Apple won’t confirm this.

The Apple TV’s app store is a big hit

The number of apps submitted so far is, “much larger than we would have predicted,” Cook says.

Apple’s not ruling out original content for Apple TV

“We will see,” Cook says about original programming on Apple’s part. “The key question for us is: can we do something better, that acts as a catalyst? If we conclude that we can, then we would. But I wouldn’t do something just to do something.”

India’s the next big market for Apple

Cook says that it’s “early, early, early days,” but Apple’s focus is on India as, “the next huge market for us.” As I’ve written about plenty of times before.

Cook believes in encryption. Obvs.

Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales has already spoken out about his belief that Apple should stop selling iPhones in the U.K. if a new “snooper’s charter” is signed, banning encryption on devices that the government is unable to hack. While Cook doesn’t suggest Apple would take that kind of measure, he does note that he is “optimistic” the bill won’t be passed.

“When the public gets engaged, the press gets engaged deeply, it will become clear to people what needs to occur,” he says. “You can’t weaken cryptography. You need to strengthen it. You need to stay ahead of the folks that want to break it.”

Source: Telegraph