Apple CEO Tim Cook is taking questions at the Apple shareholders meeting in Cupertino right now (via CNBC). With Twitter integrated deeper into OS X in the recent Mountain Lion developer preview, we got Cook’s view on the competitor when one shareholder asked him about Apple’s relationship with Facebook and his thoughts on integrating social networking in general:
Cook: “Facebook: friend. We do a lot with them, our users use Facebook an enormous amount. … I’ve always thought that the two companies could do more together.” … “We’ve integrated Twitter … It’s been great for Twitter, but it’s been great for our users” …. iMessage “the volume is incredible.”
When asked—and given—suggestions about where to spend the company’s cash, Cook responded:
“On cash, we’ve been thinking about cash very deeply, the board has been looking into what is in shareholders’ best interest … We’ve spent billions on … Supply chain, retail, etc …. My message there is that the board and the management team are thinking about this very deeply … And we will do what we think is in the best interest of shareholders.”
Cook also talked about iBooks Author and the company’s contributions to education when asked about the possibility of using cash to invest in more scholarships. Cook noted the company is matching contributions donated by employees to educational causes and Peter Oppenheimer said Apple hosted 600 interns in Cupertino last summer—the most ever. Cook continued:
“We strongly believe education is the great equalizer… The contributions Apple will make to education will mostly come from our products… We either gave equipment or gave discounts on equipment of three quarters of a billion dollars last year…”
When it comes to Apple owning or running a record label, Cook said it has not “had to own a music label to accomplish” what it has in the music industry. Cook continued: “We get profit from selling devices…” and that the focus is not making a ton of money off content.
The only announcement to come out of the meeting is the adoption of majority voting for the company’s board of directors. Board members who do not receive majority will resign voluntarily.
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