Fast Company has an exclusive Q&A interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook today, touching on several key topics, such as the forthcoming Apple Watch and Steve Jobs’ legacy.
Cook said that the late Apple CEO and co-founder had a “maniacal focus to make the best products in the world,” and that Jobs strongly believed that if people had “great products and great tools…they in turn would do great things.”
“He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company.”
Cook also said that Jobs thought that the technology business concentrated on the numbers too much.
“Everybody in technology seems to want big numbers. Steve never got carried away with that. He focused on making the best.”
Cook also gave the interviewer a demonstration of the Apple Watch that he was wearing on his wrist, before saying, “We weren’t first on the MP3 player; we weren’t first on the tablet; we weren’t first on the smartphone. But we were arguably the first modern smartphone, and we will be the first modern smartwatch—the first one that matters.”
Cook also had more words of praise for Jobs, calling him “the best teacher I ever had by far. There was nothing traditional about him as a teacher. But he was the best. He was the absolute best.”
And as far as the new Apple Campus is concerned, Cook says that is very much part of Jobs’ legacy.
“Steve’s greatest contribution and gift is the company and its culture. He cared deeply about that. He put in an enormous amount of time designing the concept for our new campus: That was a gift to the next generation. Apple University is another example of that. He wanted to use it to grow the next generation of leaders at Apple, and to make sure the lessons of the past weren’t forgotten.”
Source: Tim Cook On Apple s Future Everything Can Change Except Values Fast Company Business Innovation
