Popular Mechanics‘ Ryan D’Agostino sat down with Apple CEO Tim Cook and discussed the Mac in the era of Apple Silicon, your right to privacy, the life-changing power of wearable health tech, and more.
PM: Can you think of an example of some functionality of one of Apple’s products that when you first heard about it, you said, “That’s cool!”
TC: Oh, they happen all the time. I feel like that every day—like a kid in a candy store. We were just talking in the hallway about M2 and M1—the history there goes back well over a decade. It goes back to the genesis of the M chips, or the A chips, from iPhone and really getting in and figuring out, how do you put a powerful chip in something that small and not get it to heat up and burn up?
We found ourselves with a similar issue for laptops: How do you put something in there that is the most powerful computer chip in the world? Out of that was born M1, and now we’ve taken it further with M2. And Mac is now a totally different product than it was before.
PM: How do you view that responsibility that comes with delivering the device that delivers the app?
TC: We strongly believe that privacy is a basic, fundamental human right. And our philosophy is to put the decision to share information with the user.
To be in the app store you have to have a privacy “nutrition label” that says what data you’re collecting and what you’re doing with it. You have to have a pop-up dialog box that asks the user if they want to be tracked across other apps. That’s called application tracking transparency. We wanted to put the user back in control of that.
I think privacy is one of the most consequential issues of this century. It’s that big. I’m not keen on a lot of regulation because I worry about what it does to innovation, but this issue is so big that I think regulation is required. I’m hoping the U.S. passes a federal privacy law because people should own their data. They should decide who gets to see the data, to hold the data, to sell the data. It should be their decision, not a company’s.
PM: You’re talking about legacy. How often do you think about Steve Jobs when you’re looking at what Apple is doing?
TC: I think about him a lot. I miss him dearly. He would always stop by my office on his way out. And there’s never been a replacement for that. We would exchange tidbits on the day and talk about the future. And we try to carry on the mission that he set in place, to build the best products in the world that enrich people’s lives. And that hasn’t changed. Lots of things change with time. But the reason for our being is the same.
MacDailyNews Take: A bit more on privacy, straight from the horse’s mouth:
Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English and repeatedly. I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do. Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data. — Steve Jobs
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Tim Apple will retire in 2026, according to Gene Munster.
His name is Cook. Tim Cook.
OK, two can play the SAME game:
His name is FORMER President Donald J. Trump. FORMER President Donald J. Trump.
No, his name is Clueless, Bean Counter, Creative Deficient, Leftist, SJW, Cook…
No consistency, no stability, no ports, dwindling privacy…yup, he’s right.
Moaners gotta moan.
The usual suspects fall in line,
Predictable, petty and pathetic.
Great day.
Excellent appraisal of your pathetic mocking snarky existence. Too easy for you, it just comes natural…
Thanks you Tim Cook!
Yes, the Mac is different with great silicon, but exorbitant costs for storage and ram, coupled with soldered boards and limited upgradability was not mentioned. Certainly = bad press.
Regarding privacy, don’t know where it goes, but my iPhone in the morning tells me what apps I typically open, where I travel to work and how long it takes and the revolving gallery of photos from my iPhone posted on the stage left, swipe right screen.
Waiting for a naughty photo to show up, take screenshot and fire it off to Timid Cook. I did not give permission for a revolving photo gallery on my iPhone, if anything, I should be in charge…
Yep, the last paragraph regarding photos is not the only instance of Apple serving up their idea of desired content…not the user’s choice. Everyday I listen to a podcast, the same thing happens. Apple Music = same. 1st, it’s just simple presumptuousness…as if I want, or need that kind of control from an outsider. 2nd, what is Apple’s gain by removing the user’s choice for such matters? It’s not at all unlike websites that seem to regard visitors as idiots as they layer upon the user looping, or “blocking” videos, when not selected for consumption. Forced feeding seems to be thought of as effective. It’s BS.
Why the need to interject/interfere/put upon a customer, without prompting, Apple?
” Why the need to interject/interfere/put upon a customer, without prompting, Apple?”
Well said. One sentence encapsulates the entire mantra, or Apple corporate mission statement, brought about by a woke leftist CEO and SJW dragging Apple into the partisan political arena by monitoring our lives without PERMISSION.
Bottom Line: We see the same daily directives from our Democrat leaders, thinking they know better than anyone else in the world. Injecting themselves like central control adhering to one leftist ideology where dissent is not allowed [see Communism]. If you don’t get on board, we will violate your free space and do it for you.
Shades of “1984” in 2022…
The most dramatic difference I see with Apple Silicon… Battery life per charge. I now use my Mac like I use an iPad. Completely free and disconnected. My Intel MacBook was mobile but usually connected to power during active use for a task needing more than one hour. Maybe it could complete a such task on battery power, but I plugged it in to avoid worrying about it and being distracted. My M1 MacBook can easily complete multiple tasks unplugged, even after the 10% warning, I still have at least one hour to wrap it up. This difference would not be evident with a desktop Mac, so I’ glad I got a MacBook, not a Mac mini, as my first Apple Silicon Mac. I was also happy to find a great deal on my 13-inch MacBook Pro with 1TB storage, because I don’t need to have external storage connected constantly, adding to that feeling of freedom.
Yep, I totally agree with Cook the Mac is totally different but it’s so different that I’m now forced to put up with my ageing late 2015 iMac.
I can’t justify the exorbitant cost of a Mac Pro. The MacBook Pros don’t have a large enough screen for my needs so I thought I’d get a Mac Mini and an LG screen. No go on that as well because I’m limited to 16gb of RAM for the Mini. So what does that leave me with…nothing!
As for the rumours about an “iMac Pro” I can’t justify the extra cost as well.
Then there’s the situation of my 32 bit apps which cannot be replaced and Apple has quite literally moved the company away from all my needs. Now it’s not me that created this situation it’s Tim Cook.
I used to be a supporter of Cook but he’s moved the company away from all my needs. Do I need a new iPhone? No. Do I need an Apple Watch? Nope! Do I need another set of bluetooth IEMs? No.
The main reason I’ve stuck with Apple is that they provided a service that I needed…an iMac that could assist with my hobby of video encoding. So now Apple’s made the company so different he’s warped the “Jobsian” era term of “Think Different”
Thanks Tim, thanks a lot.