Future Apple Products Will ‘Blow You Away’: Tim Cook

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Apple CEO Tim Cook tried to put an end to the concerns that the company is losing its innovative touch. At Apple’s annual investors’ meeting at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino on Friday, Cook assured stakeholders that future Apple products will “blow you away.”

What to expect from future Apple products

According to Bloomberg, Cook told the audience at the annual investors’ meeting that the company is “planting seeds” and “rolling the dice” on future Apple products which will “blow you away.”

Although he gave no details on what mind-blowing products to expect, there are many contenders already. We have heard rumors about Apple developing its own augmented reality glasses and an electric self-driving vehicle. Apple is believed to be working on several new services as well, such as a premium news subscription service and an original content streaming platform.

Cook also said the company has a “long, great roadmap” for the Apple Watch and AirPods. The CEO added that some “fantastic” products related to the AirPods and Apple Watch are in the works. He also promised that Apple Watch will continue to receive more health-related features going forward. Both products have been met with significant success and growing adoption since launch. Apple may be relying on these two products — at least for the short term — to compensate for slowing iPhone sales.

Cook gave no clear details about the new services they are planning either, although the company is expected to announce at least one new service at an event on March 25. Apple is also expected to launch a video streaming service to take on Netflix and Hulu. Apple may bundle the streaming service with other subscription services it may launch, such as news and games.

Despite the lack of details on the kinds of services they’re working on, he did state that the company should be able to double its services revenue from $25 billion in 2016 to about $50 billion by 2020.

Tim Cook also talked privacy and politics

In addition to talking about future Apple products, Cook also discussed matters like privacy, diversity and politics. The company’s shareholders voted against a proposal that would have dislocated board nominees’ political ideologies. One shareholder criticized the company for donating $1 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center following the violence at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

Cook commented on the matter later, saying his company does not scan people at the “door” for their beliefs, donate to political campaigns or operate any political action committee.

“For us, we focus on policy things,” Cook said, adding that that although Apple is “pro-environment, pro-immigration, capitalist, and strong believers in privacy,” it does not see these matters as “political things.”

Further, Cook told investors that Apple will continue to bat for regulations on tech companies which collect user data, like Facebook and Google. He first called for new privacy laws against data collection by tech companies in October.

“We think regulation is necessary,” Tim Cook said on Friday.

Surprisingly, Cook revealed that Apple plans to lower the price of its 2018 MacBook Air, which brought Retina displays to their notebook computers. This revelation was surprising because it could cause potential buyers to delay their purchases in anticipation of the price drop. The 2018 MacBook Air currently retails for $1,200.

Cook also informed shareholders that Apple acquired 18 companies in 2018 and that they are constantly looking for more acquisitions.

Apple shares gained 1% on Friday. The stock was down 1% before Tim Cook started speaking. Year to date, the stock is up almost 11%.

Does Apple need another iPhone-like product?

This past holiday season, Apple witnessed its first sales decline since 2001. The iPhone has clearly been the company’s growth driver for the past several years. Now iPhone sales are slowing due to several reasons, such as the increasing price of the iPhone, people holding onto their iPhones longer, and the extended $29 battery replacement program.

Thus, it has become all the more crucial for Apple to come up with a new iPhone-like product. The company revolutionized the smartphone space after it introduced the first iPhone in 2007.  Now it needs to do so again, but this time, it appears it won’t be hardware, but rather software or a new service.

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