Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said Apple will continue its secretive ways. picture by Valery Marchive... [+]
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has earned a reputation as a player that likes to play its hand close to the chest. For a company that has long sought to provide products and features that consumers did not even know they needed, that strategy is key to maintaining relevance and dominance in its spaces. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, told All Things D’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher that he intends to maintain that oath of omerta.
Speaking at D10 on Tuesday, Cook mentioned that the company will “double down on secrecy on products," adding that it will also relinquish minimal information on acquisitions it makes. Apple’s realm – the space where technology and consumer needs come together to form products and ecosystems – is dynamic and hotly contested. The company’s positions in tablets, phones, app development and mobile technology, music and media and the those ecosystems that connect them all, are contested by companies like Google, Spotify, Amazon, Microsoft, other hardware manufacturers and – if rumors of a possible Facebook phone are true – Facebook. In such an environment it makes sense to keep as much intel under wraps as possible and Cook is right to stay mum on Apple’s focuses and developments. Why give the competition any more information than he has to?
One of the more exciting prospects that technology and media buffs have been speculating about in recent months is the possibility of a new Apple TV, or iTV. Former CEO and company founder, the late Steve Jobs, caused tremors of anticipation when, upon the release of his biography, it was discovered that he’d told author Walter Isaacson of his plans for an integrated television system. Predictably, Cook would not speculate on what exactly Apple is planning, TV-wise, saying only that TV is an “intense focus” of the company.
As a consumer of technology and an avid spectator of the technology/business space, I rather like not knowing what’s going to come out of Cupertino. It adds a level of excitement and apprehension that not too many companies can provide. Plus, pundits in business and technology -- all jockeying to wear the prophetic mantel – provide entertaining and thought-provoking speculation.
Whatever Apple comes up with, it will likely be unique, sleek and groundbreaking (and developed with the Apple ecosystem in mind). You can bet that other players that may be interested in developing products in that space – Google, Microsoft, possibly Netflix or Amazon – will not make any serious moves until they know what Apple has up its sleeve. TV or otherwise, the company is working on something interesting—something that famed Apple designer, the newly-knighted Jonathan Ive (think iPod, iPhone, ipad, and computers), has said is the work he’d like to be remembered for.
“What we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done….” said Ive.
When asked to elaborate, Ive declined to comment further. He works for Apple, after all.
