Apple COO: Q&A regarding the iPhone, 3G, and the AT&T partnership
Tim Cook, Apple’s COO spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium this week, in which he spoke in length about the forthcoming iPhone. In a 45-minute Q&A session, Cook revealed some thought process that went into the product’s development as well as the executive decisions that lead to exclusively partner with AT&T.
Tim Cook (left) & Steve Jobs (right)
This Q&A session is available for streaming via QuickTime from Apple’s website. However, AppleInsider transcribed the portion of Mr. Cook’s speech relating to the iPhone for your reading pleasure. For this we thank AppleInsider.
Q: Almost from the second Steve stepped off the stage at Macworld there are people in the press and other people basically coming up with reasons why Apple can’t succeed in the phone market. Can you talk a little bit about why you think Apple will be a success?
A: Well, I think the iPhone is a revolutionary product. And Steve mentioned this at Macworld. And I think this is a very, very good point. Revolutionary products only come along so often. You know, Apple had the Macintosh in 1984 that reinvented the personal computer industry. The iPod in 2001 which reinvented the whole music industry. And we think the iPhone is that class product for the cell phone industry.
Step back and look at the [iPhone] and think about what it is. It’s a very small, thin, lightweight device. It’s a revolutionary cell phone. It has visual voicemail, which if you’re not familiar with that, essentially looks like e-mail. So you can select precisely the voicemail that you want to hear, not the order they happen to come in. It’s the best iPod Apple has ever done. And it’s this really cool internet device that has desktop class email, browsing, maps and searching, all in one product. And so I think people are going to be amazed and delighted over it. So we’ll have to see. Obviously there are people who would prefer us not to be successful in this. But I think this is a revolutionary product. And we’ll see what customers think because that is the most important thing.
Original post by Vincent Nguyen