Apple’s chief executive officer Tim Cook sat down this morning with retired European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Nellie Kroes, to discuss a range of topics at Startup Fest Europe, a conference aimed at boosting the European Union’s startup scene.
The full video of the interview is now available and we’ve embedded it into this article, along with a few choice quotes that should pique your interest.
Don’t be afraid to cannibalize yourself
Apple’s late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs used to proudly underscore at his legendary media presentations how his company would rather cannibalize its own products with a new gadget than have a competitor eat into its business.
Cook’s advice to young startups is along those lines.
“Don’t get full of yourself. Don’t smoke your own exhaust. Don’t worry about cannibalizing yourself,” said Cook. “I think being hungry—not being driven by money, but being driven by some higher purpose and building great products—is really key”.
“Never do something strictly for money,” he advised. “Do it for love, do it for passion.”
Apple as a catalyst in changing the world of entertainment
Cook then discussed the fourth-generation Apple TV and how that device is exemplary of how his company’s approach to advancing the world of entertainment.
“We also believe in the entertainment realm that apps are the future of TV and so we’ve launched our new Apple TV product,” he said, adding it’s clear to Apple “as we pull that string that there’s a lot left to do.”
The Apple CEO would like the Cupertino company to be “a catalyst in changing the world of entertainment and so we’re continuing to work on that”.
Here’s the full video of the interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0p85qqfGKU
Due to copyright restrictions, the video may not be available in all markets.
Health is ripe for innovation
“The things that interest us the most are things where we can bring our ability to integrate hardware, software and services into something that’s magical and enriches people in some way,” he said.
Health is clearly one of those things. Apple is heavily invested in health even though it does not drive revenue because it’s “a huge problem in the world” and due to the fact that that sector “is ripe for simplicity and sort of a new view.”
The holy grail of Apple Watch
As for the holy grail of the Apple Watch and wearables in general, it’s measuring more of what’s going on in your body.
“If you could have a device that knew so much about you, it would be pretty incredible and would extend life and extend quality,” he said. “I’m not saying one device will do all of that, but when you solve such a big problem it takes several contributions.”
We already posted a few interesting snippets from the interview in which Cook touched on some of the aforementioned topics of interest, including his thoughts on the Apple Watch potential in healthcare and saying ‘no’ to an Apple mobile carrier.