Tim Cook Q&A Session Highlights Apple Shareholder Meeting
by Brent Dirks
February 27, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed a number of subjects during today’s annual sharedholder meeting in Cupertino, Calif. CNBC had a live blog of the event.
Since Cook doesn’t often answer questions about the secretive company, it’s always interesting to hear the CEO speak.
Easily the most unsurprising moment was when Cook talked about Apple looking at new product categories for continued growth:
"Obviously we're looking at new categories -- we don't talk about them, but we're looking at them," Cook said.Even though the company grew by about $48 billion last fiscal year, more than Google, Microsoft, Dell, HP, RIM, and Nokia combined, Apple’s stock had mainly flatlined since the beginning of the year. And Cook said he is unhappy just like the shareholders:
"I don't like it either," he said. "Neither does the board or management — where the stock trades now vs. a few months ago -- but we're focused on the long term."He also commented on Android’s growth saying that "success is not making the most." Apple could easily press “a button or two” to make the most products in a category. But “that would not be good for Apple.” Along with saying that the company is “seriously considering” returning some of its gigantic $137 billion cash reserve to investors, Cook reiterated the new Apple “spaceship” headquarters will be ready by mid-2016.
