Project to replace mall in Apple’s shadow moves ahead
‘We needed to say something’ about immigration, CEO says
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has become increasingly vocal on social and political issues during the Trump administration, spoke on a range of topics — from immigration and privacy to how even he is trying to cut down on his iPhone use — at a conference hosted by Fortune Monday.
Sitting onstage at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, Cook answered questions from Adam Lashinsky, the magazine’s executive editor and author of “Inside Apple.” Fortune’s CEO Initiative conference sought to ask industry leaders how they should address social problems that don’t necessarily affect the bottom line.
Though Cook didn’t address his relationship with President Trump on Monday, as CEO of Apple, he has often found himself at odds with the White House’s stances on issues such as climate change, immigration and trade.
“At Apple, we’ve always been about changing the world, and it became clear to me that you don’t do that by staying quiet about the things that matter,” Cook said. But, he added, he is careful to only speak out on topics that the company has enough “expertise” about, as he doesn’t want Apple to just be another “talking head.”
Immigration is in the former category, Cook suggested.
Speaking to the Irish Times on a recent trip to Dublin, Cook denounced Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that has left more than 2,000 minors separated from their
families. He called the policies “heartbreaking” and said they need “to stop.”
On Monday, Cook stood by those comments, saying this issue is “square in the dignity and respect area, and I felt we needed to say something.”
Cook has also spoken out about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors, and the H-1B work visa program, which has seen changes under Trump that have discouraged some applicants.
“We have over 300 folks here on DACA, and we have several people that are on H-1Bs that might be deep in the green-card backlog,” he said. “This gives us a perspective to share . ... Too often in the case of immigration, people get to numbers. There are real people behind this.”
Cook did not address the rising tensions between China and the U.S. over tariffs. Apple manufactures most of its iPhones in China, but obtains components from around the world, including U.S. suppliers like Corning. The Trump administration outlined plans this year to impose $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods. After China threatened to retaliate, Trump raised the stakes last week ,saying he would identify an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods to face tariffs.
The New York Times last week reported that Trump assured Cook that the iPhone wouldn’t be on the list of tariffed goods. Still, Apple shares dropped 1.5 percent to close at $182.17 Monday amid fears of a widening trade war.
Cook and several other executives from major tech firms will gather in San Francisco this week to address growing concerns over consumer privacy, a topic that has gained momentum as Europe has imposed new data regulations and public criticism continues over Facebook’s handling of a massive data breach by Cambridge Analytica.
Apple has been an outspoken advocate for user privacy, with Cook criticizing Facebook in particular as well as other companies that offer free, advertising-supported services. In 2016, Apple was locked in a dispute with the FBI for months over its refusal to create software to unlock an iPhone used by the perpetrator of a mass shooting in San Bernardino; Apple said such a move would expose other users to privacy and security risks.
Cook said Monday that his company “felt strongly about privacy when no one cared.”
“This isn’t something we woke up one morning and said, ‘Oh, the media is focusing on privacy today, let’s do that,’ ” he said. “We felt strongly about this from the beginning . ... And we feel today people don’t have a full view of who has what, and how much of their lives has been opened to commercial entities and public entities.”
This month Apple announced an operating system update for its Mac computers, called Mojave, which will make it more difficult for other companies to track users’ data and activities. The company also unveiled new tools at its annual developer conference that give users weekly reports showing how much time they spend on their phones and on certain apps — similar to new features announced by its competitor, Google.
Cook said these features, which will be available to the public later this year, already have helped him cut down on his own phone usage.
“It has come clear to us that some of us are spending too much time on our devices,” he said. “We’re not about usage. We want people to be empowered from (their devices) and do things they couldn’t do otherwise.”