Updated on December 14th with more detailed interview information with Tim Cook and King Charles III at Apple’s Battersea headquarters.
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s visit to London on Wednesday, December 11th was an opportunity to highlight the company’s commitment to London and the UK. Apple’s investment in the UK has exceeded $22 billion or £18 billion over the past five years. says the company. Mr Cook was here as part of a major visit to welcome King Charles III to Apple’s Battersea headquarters on Thursday, December 12. When I was there, Cook was all smiles and the King looked relaxed and engaged. Cook’s positive attitude was evident during both parts of the trip.
Tim Cook.
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In particular, he thought positively about his country, Britain. With around 40 stores in the UK, more than any other country in Europe, the Battersea building is spectacular, airy, spacious and inspiring – the perfect place to work.
My first conversation with him coincided with the release of iOS 18.2, the second part of the Apple Intelligence feature. This is the first experience of all new Apple Intelligence features, except for the UK and four other English-speaking countries.
“You can have it all at once,” Cook reminded me. “I always look forward to coming to the UK, but I’m especially excited to be here on this day. It’s so special.” Commenting on how nice it was (even if he didn’t cleverly mention that London was in the middle of a particularly cold spell).
He praised London’s ability as a city to play a role in the growth of AI, commenting on how the company has doubled its “engineering population” in recent years, many of whom work in Apple Intelligence. He said he believes London is a great hub for artificial intelligence.
He told young people at Caius House, Apple’s youth center near Battersea Building, that Apple exists to be creative and that “at the end of the day, we’re all creative.”
When the King was at Apple headquarters, I was able to hear his questions up close during an Apple Intelligence demonstration. He was polite and friendly, and seemed impressed with how the Image Wand turned doodles into finished artwork.
Speaking to young people at Caius House, a youth center near Apple’s London headquarters in Battersea, he spoke candidly and openly about his life and Apple’s latest features. Caius House CEO Delrita Agyapong told me how valuable Apple is to them. “We work with young people in Battersea to help them develop their digital skills and reach their potential. It’s great to have Apple in our local community and thanks to their support, young people “We were able to provide them with an opportunity to work with the latest technology and learn from experts on how to put theory into practice,” she said.
And in terms of expertise, it’s hard to imagine anyone better qualified than Mr. Cook. And when it was revealed that Mr. Cook was the unexpected visitor to the Caius mansion, the reaction was palpable excitement.
I’ve seen Cook work in a room like this before. He can take, “Oh, it’s him!” He uses that energy to get to know people, especially putting them at ease thanks to his effortless and genuine interest.
Mr. Cook, a natural optimist, told me how happy he was to be back in London and how well the city had spent Christmas. In response to an attendee’s question about how difficult it is to get a job in this industry, he offered comforting words, saying these things come in cycles and suggesting that even if things aren’t good now, they will be again. . “You don’t need to worry too much about that,” he said reassuringly.
I asked Mr. Cook what it meant to him to participate in an event like this. “It means something to be able to give back,” he says. “And to connect with the kids who are going to run companies and businesses and governments in the future and find out what they are thinking and what their dreams and aspirations are. That’s very important from a personal and business perspective.
When asked by the group about how he got started, he talks about his interest in computing. That interest skyrocketed when I realized that computing had great potential to help and bring people together. It all started when I was in college, not high school. “Find what you’re most interested in, and don’t worry if that moment doesn’t materialize right away,” he tells a room of mostly teenagers. “Keep pulling that string.”
Cook talked with app developer Taiwo Omisore about how the first app was born and how he was inspired by playing Super Mario Bros. on the Famicom as a child. I listen intently while he speaks. “I’ve always wondered why Mario flies in that direction when you press the left button,” he says. After studying computer science at university, he worked at a British supermarket, Tesco, developing apps in his spare time. “When I created my first app, I had a long commute, so I approached random people to get their thoughts, and they were really nice and gave me really good feedback,” he said recently. We have released “10 Games: Daily Brain Training” with puzzle and Sudoku elements.
His advice to listeners was supportive and clear. Do you want to create an app or a website? Do you want to create tools that make people’s lives better? Just do it. You can read all the tutorials in the world, but at the end of the day, all you need to do is put something out there. When you talk to people, what really accelerates their personal growth is just releasing something. Just take a step back and just move on forever. ”
Success in business is another matter, but Cook has plenty of tips. Don’t look in the rearview mirror, always look forward instead of giving yourself credit for your accomplishments, and surround yourself with a team of strong people.
He talked about how he came to work at Apple, saying that in 1997, the company “believed it or not, was on the verge of bankruptcy.” He went on to say that Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers, said the best thing for Apple was to shut down and return the money to shareholders. “And the only difference between Michael Dell and the rest of the industry is that he said it while everyone else was thinking it.”
Despite this, he joined Apple because “I felt something about the sparkle in Steve Jobs’ eyes, the way he looked to the left while everyone else looked to the right.” It is from.
Asked about Apple Intelligence and where it’s headed, Cook said: It includes various parts of Apple Intelligence, from the ability to clean up photos to writing tools to ChatGPT integration. It has a lot of features, but its elegance is that it’s integrated into the apps you use every day. And that elegance also means privacy. This is very unusual in that the processing is kept on-device or in a private cloud. In the future, more features will be added and it will continue to improve. Artificial intelligence is a horizontal technology in that it will impact everything in your life over time. That will change everything. Because when you have an assistant, you can spend more time preparing things that would otherwise take more time, nurturing your curiosity, and creating and pursuing your passions. Because you will be able to do it. ”
One of the developers he met talked about the need to “constantly iterate.” I asked Cook whether that applies to Apple as well. “Yes, it’s an incredible constant drive that nothing is perfect, that there is always a need for improvement, and that you are willing to take people’s feedback as a gem and to take the time to make your work even better.” It’s important to keep getting better.”
When Cook met with app developers today, I wondered if the App Store was part of Apple’s democratization efforts. “Even before I started working there, Apple has always been about democratization: the goal of putting a computer in every classroom. 2024 doesn’t seem very ambitious, but it was ambitious at the time. ” he says.
“Then everyone was given a personal computer, and then everyone had a smartphone in their pocket, and everyone became a photographer, able to shoot and edit movies. “It used to cost more than a hundred thousand pounds, but now all of a sudden I can put it in my pocket,” he says.
Cook cited other examples of this, such as the ability to create music in Logic Pro and Garageband, all of which are meant to give creative people the tools to express themselves. When it comes to app development, it’s important to give developers tools and free them from the heavy lifting of programming, frameworks, and APIs so they can focus on their passions, whether it’s fitness or gaming. It’s okay.”
And he mentions new features that will lead democratization in a new direction. “Perhaps the most recent example is hearing testing. There are 1.5 billion people in the world with hearing problems, but very few people get their hearing tested, so now we need to democratize hearing testing. It’s always democratizing for us.”
This feature was rolled out on AirPods Pro 2 with iOS 18.2. So I asked Cook what Apple Intelligence means to him and to Apple.
“I think this means a whole new era for the iPhone. The difference between Apple Intelligence and regular functionality is that Apple Intelligence is all-encompassing. It affects every app you use frequently. (Note) ), then (Mail), then (Messaging). These apps that you’re using today touch on all of them, so the integration is deep and you’re like, “Oh, Apple Intelligence. It’s very different from having to think, “I want to use this, let me go to this special place.” It’s where you are already. It starts a level of innovation that is on a different trajectory for the future. I think that is fundamental and important. ”
