Apple’s Cook: ‘TV no longer a ‘hobby’
March 3, 2014
By Colin Mann
Although his late predecessor as Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggested in June 2010 that Apple TV would remain a “hobby” at his company because the cable industry had “squashed the opportunity for innovation in the TV market,” current incumbent Tim Cook has admitted that this is no longer the case.
Cook told the company’s annual meeting that Apple had sold more than $1 billion of Apple TV set-top boxes in 2013 and was investing heavily in the next generation of products. Speculation persists about a long-rumoured TV product of some sort. “We’re working on some things that are extensions of things you can see and some that you can’t see,” Cook said, unwilling to divulge further details for fear of tipping off the competition. “You can see we’re getting ripped off left, right and sideways.”
In light of the $1 billion in sales in the past year, Cook said: “It’s a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days.”