Apple Inc sold more than US$1 billion of Apple TV set-top boxes last year and is investing heavily in the next generation of products, chief executive Tim Cook said at the company’s annual meeting on Friday.
Apple’s ability to again transform the fast-moving technology arena is the central question in investors’ and Silicon Valley executives’ minds as the company’s growth slows, and rivals like Samsung Electronics Co and Google Inc take chunks out of its market share.
Industry executives and Apple observers continue to believe that the company will come up with some sort of wearable device, like a smartwatch, and speculation persists about a long-rumored TV product of some sort to shake up the living room viewing experience.
“We’re working on some things that are extensions of things you can see and some that you can’t see,” Cook said at the annual meeting, referring to a 32 percent increase in research and development costs last year.
Responding to a question about innovation, Cook said Apple preferred not to talk about new products under development so as not to tip off the competition.
“You can see we’re getting ripped off left, right and sideways,” he said.
Apple’s shares fell 0.27 percent to close at US$526.24 on Friday. They have clawed back substantial ground since falling below US$400 in June last year, but remain well below the record-high US$700 level of 2012, weighed by concerns about whether the company has any new hit products in the pipeline.
Though Cook steered clear of that discussion, he shed some more light on the Apple TV business, which executives have long referred to as a “hobby” for a company expected to chalk up about US$181 billion in sales this fiscal year.
The US$99 Apple TV set-top box, which streams content from Netflix and other video sources to a TV, had racked up US$1 billion in sales in the past year, he said.
“It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days,” Cook said.
Cook took pot shots at Google, saying that most users of its Android mobile operating system are using older versions, presenting a security threat. In contrast, he said, 89 percent of users of devices based on Apple’s iOS operating system have the most recent version of the software.
Cook also said the company will provide an update within 60 days on how it will use its massive cash pile, which totaled nearly US$160 billion at the end of last year.
That timeframe is in line with Apple’s previous comments that it would announce its latest cash management plans around next month.
Some analysts believe Apple may eventually dip into its coffers to buy something big. The iPhone maker has so far shied away from the mega-acquisitions that far more aggressive rivals like Google and Facebook Inc have pursued, though Cook did not rule out forking over a big sum of cash if warranted.
Cook said Apple has acquired 23 companies in the past 16 months and remained on the lookout for interesting technology and companies.
Apple is not in a race to acquire the most companies or to spend the most money, but that “doesn’t mean we won’t buy a huge company tomorrow afternoon,” he said.
And he warned shareholders not to focus too narrowly on short-term gains.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last