CBS' '60 Minutes' inside Apple features Cook and his executive team
CBS’ “60 Minutes” took a look inside Apple last night, on Sunday evening, and Charlie Rose was given the opportunity of firing questions at CEO Tim Cook, design guru Jony Ive, retail boss Angela Ahrendts, and other members of Apple’s team. As such, a huge range of topics, including design, security, and what it’s like to get a job with Apple, were discussed in the program.
There is, in fact, a full transcript of the episode available, and provided viewers live inside the United States, you can still watch the program online, at the “60 Minutes” website. However, a couple of pieces from the segment stand out.
Weekly meetings, design labsRose, for instance, got to take a look at Apple’s weekly executive meeting at the Cupertino campus. These take place every Monday morning, and must be attended by all members of the executive team at Apple (take a look at the picture below).
Apple’s weekly executive meetings at its Cupertino campus.
He also got to step inside Jony Ive’s design labs, though here, almost every table was covered with a blanket. These, Ive explained, were in place to prevent Rose from seeing a “glimpse of the future” as he visited the labs; the design team is testing products we might not see appear in retail stores for many years, and as such, the items underneath these blankets were top, top secret. Rose did get to see the 10 versions of handset Ive considered for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and similar testing and debate is taken with each and every Apple product, the design chief explained.
Jony Ive’s secret design labs.
Rose got to look at an Apple Store “of the future,” as we expected, and he sat down with Phil Schiller and CEO Tim Cook. Here, Rose and Cook talked about Apple’s approach to privacy. This even encroached on personal privacy, and the CEO’s decision to reveal his sexuality back in 2014:
I value my privacy. I’m a very private person. But it became increasingly clear to me that if I said something, that it could help other people. And I’m glad because I think that some kid somewhere, some kid in Alabama, I think if they just for a moment stop and say, “If it didn’t limit him, it may not limit me.” Or this kid that’s getting bullied or worse, I’ve gotten notes from people contemplating suicide. And so if I could touch just one of those, it’s worth it. And I couldn’t look myself in the mirror without doing it.
The entire segment is definitely worth watching, if you can; as mentioned, a transcript is available online, as well as the “60 Minutes” episode (provided you’re watching from the United States).