Gary Fong for The Wall Street Journal
    Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at the WSJD Live conference for a conversation with Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker about Apple’s future.
    More:
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      • 8:51 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Gerry Baker starts off interview with Tim Cook by making an iPhone-bending joke: “Don’t want to get bent out of shape.”
      • 8:52 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      “The phone is the majority of the company’s revenue,” says Tim Cook.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      “Smartphones are going to keep growing” in terms of sales as a category, says Cook. “I am really proud of the products this year.”
      • 8:53 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      “The iPhone will continue to be a majority of the company’s revenue and profits” down the road, says Cook.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook says the Mac unit’s growth was “remarkable” last quarter, despite critics who say the PC business was slipping. ”We think the Mac has a great future.”
      • 8:54 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      It appears Tim Cook read WSJD’s story today about the resurgence of the Mac, eh? Hmmm. Don’t expect those new products like Apple’s smart watch to change the complexion of Apple’s revenue.
      • 8:55 am
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      • by Shira Ovide
      No surprise. Tim Cook says Apple is “excited” about the Apple Watch coming next year.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook is anxious to talk about Apple Pay, seems to have news to share there.
      • 8:57 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      In the first 72 hours of Apple Pay, Apple saw over 1 million activations.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      “The early ramp [of Apple Pay] looks fantastic,” says Cook.
      • 8:58 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      We have our first numbers for Apple Pay. It’s such an early category, so it’s hard to know if 1 million activations is remarkable or meh.
      • 8:58 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook shops at Whole Foods using Apple Pay, he says. Doesn’t he have people to do this for him?
      • 8:59 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Tim Cook throwing some shade at merchants who might be wary of Apple Pay. “Over the long arc of time,” he says, retailers will have to do what shoppers want.
      • 8:59 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook says retailers will use Apple Pay because it is more secure. Changing your cards a few times a year because of breaches is “a pain in the butt.”
      • 9:00 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Privacy pledge from Tim Cook: “We’re not Big Brother,” we’re not collecting your data. “We’ll leave that to others.” (Cough, cough. Google.)
      • 9:00 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      The security aspect of Apple Pay has been one of its strong selling points in the early rollout of the service.
      • 9:01 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Big question, battery life on Apple Watch: “You’re going to wind up charging it daily,” says Cook.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook won’t say what the actual battery life of the watch is. Seems that’s one of the company’s secrets, for now.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Of course, a watch is supposed to be used all day…to keep time.
      • 9:04 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Regarding the current TV experience: “We’re living in the 1970s,” says Cook. “There’s a lot to be done in this area.” He adds: “What we’ll do I won’t be so clear” he says. Sounds like Apple…
      • 9:04 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Cook lauds HBO’s recent decision to sell Web-only subscriptions. Apple, of course, has been trying for years to convince TV content owners to license their shows for Apple Web-only TV services.
      • 9:05 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      (The Cook joke about Apple secrecy got a bit of a chuckle in this crowd, by the way.)
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook says he gets more notes from users than “any CEO alive.”
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      • by Shira Ovide
      Tim Cook rejects the notion that iPhone is at risk of falling into the same trap as the Mac in decades past: An open, mass-market rival (Windows then, Android now) will swamp Apple. Cook says no way. “I’d much rather own a business that’s innovating.”
      • 9:09 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Gerry Baker suggests Carl Icahn must be Cook’s “favorite penpal.” Icahn, of course, has been pressing Cook for more stock buybacks.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Apple has repurchased $45 billion in shares this year.
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      • by Shira Ovide
      “Yes, we have some cash,” Cook says, to laughs. That would be $145 billion worth of cash, Tim.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      “I don’t spend a lot of time talking to Carl” says Cook, noting they’ve had two to three conversations.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      “I agree with him that the company is undervalued,” says Cook. No kidding.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      “A share repurchase is a good thing for us right now.”
      • 9:13 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Gerry Baker wants to know about the Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich. What the heck are those? “Lighter touch” tax regimes around the world, says Baker. Cook replies that Apple pays plenty of tax and the U.S. tax code is too long.
      • 9:14 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Apple has been criticized for skirting some U.S. taxes by parking its cash abroad. Cook says Apple complies with the law, not what some people believe the law should be.
      • 9:15 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      “We’re at a logjam in Washington,” meaning progress is difficult on taxes and other matters, says Cook.
      • 9:16 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      “Your data is yours,” says Cook, when asked about privacy. Apple took it on the chin this year after celebrities’ nude photos were leaked from iCloud.
      • 9:17 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Cook brags about Apple privacy, seemingly to contrast his company with Google. “Your data is yours,” Cook said. We don’t keep iMessage data, record the temperature of your home or retain search history. (Actually, the latest OS X does keep search history.)
      • 9:17 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      “We’re designing a Fort Knox kind of thing” says Cook, discussing privacy measures at Apple. Not clear what that will constitute.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Nor is it clear what Samsung would think about that. Samsung, of course, has a security product called Knox.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Apple and Samsung are bitter rivals in smartphones and tablets.
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Apple stopped making the 160GB iPod Classic because it couldn’t get the parts anymore from anywhere in the world, says Cook. He was responding to a question from an attendee who claims to have 40,000 tracks in his personal library.
      • 9:20 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      (Sorry, classic iPod fans. Tim Cook makes it clear that product isn’t coming back from the grave.)
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      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook is asked whether Apple will develop a low-cost iPhone for Africa or other developing countries. His response: “We’ll go as low as we can while maintaining the customer experience.”
      • 9:22 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Sounds like Cook doesn’t want to play in that end of the market because it involves being too un-Apple-y.
      • 9:23 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Sounds like a no, I’d say. Apple’s “low cost” iPhone was the 5C. And there’s no 5C equivalent in the latest release.
      • 9:23 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Is this ANOTHER veiled shot at Google? Tim Cook says Apple doesn’t want to get into “cancer research” and things like that. (Google and Google X, of course, have a big push in healthcare.)
      • 9:24 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      Where else can Apple go with the fitness and health features in iOS and other Apple products? He grins that Cheshire Cat smile at this. “We’ll talk about later.” Hmmmm.
      • 9:25 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      More secrets: Cook seems to want to partner with Jack Ma on something, but he won’t say what.
      • 9:25 am
      • by Shira Ovide
      And with that, Tim Cook’s session is over. Thanks, all!
      • 9:25 am
      • by Greg Bensinger
      Cook has left the building.
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