Apple CEO Tim Cook on the iPhone’s Future and Artificial Intelligence Initiatives

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook spoke candidly about his company’s progress in artificial intelligence and how he disagrees with common conceptions about the iPhone.

Speaking about the future of the iPhone, Cook said that one day he believes that everyone will have a smartphone and that he does not think that it’s problematic for the company that nearly a third of their revenue comes from this iconic product and its continually spawning family of upgrades.

The Future of AI and iPhones

Cook also spoke about the future of artificial intelligence and the company’s many investments in that space.

We have ramped up R&D because we are heavily investing in the future — both in current product lines and things that aren’t visible as well, including in services. In due time, some of those things will be visible. But there will always be other things that will replace those things that are invisible.”

That might not be the most specific of speeches, but it does show us Apple’s forward-looking nature. On the iPhone front, despite what Cook says, any top-heavy company needs to make sure that it keeps broadening its base if it doesn’t want to fall over.

Not that Apple Inc. is going to fall over if iPhone sales keep declining the way they’ve been doing for the past six months or more, but the company is now looking harder at offering service-based solutions like Apple Pay and so on.

In the arena of driverless cars, Apple’s Project Titan got a new head honcho in the form of Dan Dodge, formerly the head of BlackBerry’s automotive software division and also founder and former CEO of QNX Software Systems. With Dodge on board, the research into driverless technology could put Apple squarely in contention with traditional carmakers like General Motors and Ford, who are conducting their own research in collaboration with some of the top university think-tanks around the country.

Where’s Apple Headed?

From the interview itself, it’s not very clear where Apple is putting its eggs. On the one hand, there is some forced optimism about a product that has served them well for nearly ten years but is now showing signs of fatigue. On the other, it’s clear that they’re investing in forward technologies, many of which have yet to see the light of day.

From a consumer’s perspective, I think we can expect to see some amazing innovation from Apple over the next few years. Perhaps, unfortunately, not in the iPhone 7 or any of its progeny, but definitely in the area of artificial intelligence, where Siri sits like a flagship application waiting for new generations of AI products from the House of Apple.

For now, we’ll just have to be happy with the new iPhone 7 and its really cool camera!