Apple’s CEO Tim Cook took some time out of his day to offer up some insights into a few subjects including virtual reality. Before offering up his thought on virtual reality Cook discussed the Apple news of the day, which revolved around its financials. Following Apple’s earnings announcement Cook simply just says the economy stinks everywhere you go right now, “We’re seeing extreme conditions, unlike anything we’ve experienced before just about everywhere we look.” He is optimistic about the Chinese market though stating, “We remain very confident about the long-term potential of the China market and the large opportunities ahead of us,” he said, “and we are maintaining our investment plans.”
Cook also notes that Apple has sold a billion devices around the world, this is the one metric he wants everyone to concentrate on rather than iPhone sales slumping. He also fired a shot at Android expressing how he’s “blown away” by the amount of Android to iPhone switchers. Finally he touched on an emerging technology in virtual reality. Generally Apple and its CEO do not comment on emerging technologies and if they do they tend to dumb them down or dismiss them, in this case Cook took a different stance stating that “virtual reality is not a niche.”
“I don’t think it’s a niche,” he said. “It’s really cool and has some interesting applications.”
Apple tends to play it safe when it comes to emerging technologies, allowing others to dip their feet into the pool before they publicly commit. This is a strategy that generally gives Apple the reputation of copying other company’s ideas but it has worked well for the them in the past. Their marketing strategy is fairly strong and they’re able to manipulate consumer perception in their favor so letting others do the heavy lifting makes good business sense no matter how much some may dislike it.
There had been rumors that Apple is working on a virtual reality project but no solid concrete evidence has been presented. But Cook’s comment could at least be partial confirmation that Apple is stepping towards the pool to test the waters. With iPhone sales slumping and dark clouds on the horizon for Apple, they’ll need something new to capture consumers attention. If they continue to ignore Samsung and HTC, who both have VR products, current iPhone consumers may be swayed to dip their toes in non-Apple waters.
What do you think? Will Apple get into the VR pool? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.cnet.com/news/apples-tim-cook-speaks-6-things-you-need-to-know/?part=propeller&subj=news&tag=link” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: CNET[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
