Tim Cook: Apple 'Spending an Enormous Amount' on 'Macs of the Future'

Tim CookApple hasn't "given up on the Mac" like some of its competitors and has "some really cool things" coming, according to CEO Tim Cook who sat down for a wide-ranging interview with The Wall Street Journal.

Answering a question about new product categories, Cook said the company is going to focus on "only doing a few things and doing them great", but that Apple does have significant new products, in new categories, in the works.

He went on to say that he felt Apple has a long way to go in its existing categories as well, the Mac in particular.

I think Apple can grow well with great improvements and new products on its existing category of products.

[...]

And we haven't given up on the Mac. A lot of people are throwing in the towel right now on the PC. We're still spending an enormous amount on really great talent and people on the Macs of the future. And we have some really cool things coming out there. Because we believe as people walk away from the PC, it becomes clear that the Mac is what you want if you want a PC.

According to the well-sourced KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning to release an ultra-slim 12-inch Retina MacBook in the middle of 2014 and it could be one of the "really cool things" that Cook talked about.

Elsewhere in the interview Cook revealed that Apple has repurchased $14 billion in stock over the past two weeks, and that the company is open to making large acquisitions if it makes sense. He also reiterated that Apple is working on "some really great stuff" in new product categories, an assertion that Apple executives have made numerous times over the past few months.

Investor Carl Icahn, who has been agitating for an increase in Apple's stock repurchase program, tweeted today that Wall Street is "still not listening" to Cook's statements and Apple's stock price remains relatively flat.

Related Forum: MacBook

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Top Rated Comments

Icaras Avatar
142 months ago
MacRumors, I beg you, just please don't post up Icahn's photo in another news article again.

Thank you.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple fanboy Avatar
142 months ago
Tim Cook: Apple 'Spending an Enormous Amount' on 'Macs of the Future'

So will we!
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Moonjumper Avatar
142 months ago
Does that mean there will be a new Mac Mini soon?
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
centauratlas Avatar
142 months ago
Bring back the 17 inch MBP or something equivalent!
PLEASE???
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Millah Avatar
142 months ago
WHAT!!?? You want results? Just enjoy the corporate board-speak and fluffy empty words... and smile with glorious satisfaction that something is being done. But, don't expect anything to be done.

Sounds like Cook is saying this will be a year without major innovations or products. What else does an exec say when they have little on the immediate runway?
Maybe because the guy is having to deal with an unprecedented amount of pressure and expectations for Apple to "deliver" (even though they've been delivering a steady string of benchmark products), that Steve Jobs never had to deal with.

The more Apple says nothing, the more speculation starts to take over reality and lies begin to turn into truths. But the more Apple says, the more expectations rise (unrealistically).

Apple has been delivering just as strong as when Steve Jobs was around. If you took off your rose colored shades and looked at things more rationally, you would have probably seen it too. Steve Jobs introduced 3-4 major disruptive product lines in his long career at Apple spanning decades. Yet 2 years after he's passed away, people have somehow managed to warp their recollection of history into believing Steve Jobs deliverered major disruption 2-3 times a year. I admire the guy too, but Jesus, I also admire the most important thing he built (which is Apple).

Its unbelievable. Childish. Foolish. And incredibly selfish.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PassiveSmoking Avatar
142 months ago
Pleeeeeeeeeeeease give us a prosumer version of the new Mac Pro with an i7 and Radions!
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)