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发帖数: 16371 | 1 12:34 pm
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After a brief music interlude, Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope is
introducing Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple to the conference.
12:35 pm
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Tim Cook chuckles before reading a safe harbor statement to investors.
12:39 pm
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Shope starts off with a question about what investors should know about the
company's relationship with its supply chain, which has gotten intensive
news coverage lately. Cook said that Apple takes working conditions very
seriously. "We care about every worker." He reminds everyone that he has
spent a lot of time in factories himself. "The supply chain is complex. We
believe every worker has the right to a safe working environment. Apple's
suppliers must live up to this to do business with Apple."
12:42 pm
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Cook said that no one in the industry is doing more to improve working
conditions more than Apple. "We are constantly auditing facilities. We
report everything because we believe transparency is incredibly important in
this area," he said. Cook said Apple is truly a model for the industry. "We
think the use of underage labor is abhorrent. It is extremely rare in our
supply chain, but our top priority is to eliminate it entirely." Cook said
Apple will fire any supplier that is caught making this offense.
12:44 pm
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At the beginning of this year, Cook said Apple collected weekly data on over
a half a million workers in its supply chain. Apple will now be reporting
its audits on a monthly basis on its website, which Cook said is
unprecedented in the industry.
12:47 pm
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Shope now moves the discussion along to products. He points out there are
skeptics about the company's growth, and when does Apple start to run into
the law of large numbers. Cook agreed that 37 million is a large number for
iPhone sales, to some chuckles in the audience. "We were pretty happy with
that," he said. "That 37 million represented 24% of the smartphone market."
12:52 pm
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Cook points out how vast the potential is for smartphones to continue to
grow, especially in emerging markets like Brazil. Apple has mostly focused
on China so far. He noted that in emerging markets, the retailers have more
influence than the carriers. Cook gets kind of long-winded here and talks
about how important and paramount the product is.
12:55 pm
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Now Cook is talking about how the halo affect that was created by the iPod
for the Mac was really a developed market phenomenon. He said that in
emerging markets it is the iPhone that is starting to create a halo for the
Mac in emerging markets. "We are only on the surface," he said. "There is
lots more opportunity out there."
12:56 pm
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Shope moves the talk thankfully to the iPad, noting it is the fastest ramp
of any product in history.
12:58 pm
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Cook admits that Apple was surprised by the ramp of the iPad. "It's on a
trajectory that's off the charts," he says. He believes the reason for that
is that the iPad has stood on the shoulders of everything that came before
it. "I gave one to my mother and she knew how to use it, like this, just
from watching the commercial."
1:02 pm
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Cook said that Apple started using the iPad long before it was launched. He
said 80% to 90% of his media consumption was done on the iPad, and that is
where all the innovation in the industry is taking place . "That doesn't
mean that the PC is going to die," he said "But i strongly believe the
tablet market will surpass the unit sales in the PC market. It's too much of
a profound change in things not to." Cook added in his folksy manner that
is just his opinion, and people are free to disagree.
1:05 pm
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Shope asks him a bit about Amazon and other rivals in tablets. "Everyone was
aiming at iPad 1, and we were trying to get to iPad 2. We wound up with 170
,000 apps and I am not sure there are 100 on the other platform. People at
the end of the day want a great product." He said Amazon is a different kind
of competitor, with different strengths. "The real catalyst to the tablet
market will be innovation," Cook says.
1:06 pm
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Cook does not predict the demise of the PC industry. But the tablet is
cannabilizing some Mac sales and some PC sales, which is a plus for Apple. "
I think tablets will cannabilize PCs." He believes the tablet is good for
the PC industry because it will force innovation. "Out of that, there will
still be a strong PC industry."
1:07 pm
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Finally, Shope moves the talk to the company's balance sheet.
1:07 pm
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Shope asks the big question, why the reluctance to buy back stock or issue a
dividend and should we expect that to change?
1:09 pm
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Cook notes that the company has spent billions on the supply chain, billions
on retail, billions on data centers. "But yes, we still have a lot," he
said. "We are judicious, we are deliberate. We spend our money like it is
our last penny. I think shareholders want us to do that. They don't want us
to act like we are rich. That may sound bizarre but that is the truth." Cook
said he is not religious about this.
1:11 pm
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Cook said the company is in active talks with the board about the cash.
Shope presses on and asks if the discussions are more active than in the
past. We are not going to go out and have a toga party," Cook said. But he
adds, "I'd be the first to admit we need more cash than we need to run the
daily business. I only ask for a bit of patience." He said the company wants
to make the best decision for the shareholders.
1:16 pm
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Talk moves very briefly to Apple TV. Cook says Apple doesn't typically do
hobbies. Doesn't say very much except that Apple needs to get further
mainstream in terms of TV. And if you don't have an Apple TV now you should
get one.
1:17 pm
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Shope asks iCloud and Siri. Cook calls Siri a "profound change in input." He
said he cannot live without it now. He told investors that he does not run
a separate P&L on the iCloud team or the Siri team. "We want people to have
a great experience." He calls both innovations in the "profound category."
1:18 pm
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Shope is moves to what he says is his last question. He asks Cook what his
leadership will bring to Apple.
1:21 pm
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Cook says the culture of Apple is unique "I'm not going to witness or permit
the slow undoing of it because I believe in it so deeply." he said. "Steve
grilled in all of us that the company should revolve around great products
and we should stay focused on a few great things. We should only go into
markets where we can make significant changes to society, not just sell a
lot of products." That make Apple a really magical place where people will
want to work, and do their best " life's work." Cook says the company is
always focused on the future. |
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