We told you last night that Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down recently for an interview with ABC News reporter David Muir. While that interview will air tonight on World News With Diane Sawyer, ABC’s Good Morning America gave a sneak peek of the interview. Cook was joined for the chat by Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi and Apple software VP Bud Tribble.
It looks as if Muir gets right to the point, asking about Apple’s culture of secrecy, (black drapes cover some areas, employees can’t tell their families what they’re working on), the new Texas plant that is manufacturing the company’s new Mac Pro, (Cook responds “We think we can do more”), the new sapphire glass plant in Arizona, (Cook is characteristically tight-lipped on Apple’s plans for the plant’s output), and even the iWatch. (To which Cook jokingly replies that Apple is making a ring instead.)
Cook says he gets up every morning at 3:45AM and reads the majority of the 700 – 800 emails he receives from customers each day.
The entire interview will be featured tonight on World News With Diane Sawyer. Muir says Cook will share his thoughts on the NSA’s surveillance program tonight. It should be interesting viewing.
(UPDATE – 01/24/13) – Not much more was revealed in the brief ABC News interview with Tim Cook than was seen in this morning’s preview. However, Cook did say more about his December meeting with President Obama regarding the government’s national security surveillance programs.
“From my point of view, number one, we need to be significantly more transparent,” he told David Muir in the interview. “We need to say what data is being given, how many people it affects, how many accounts are affected. We need to be clear and we have a gag order on us right now, and so, we can’t say those things.”
Cook noted that during that meeting with Obama, he’d pushed for more transparency.
“Much of what has been said isn’t true,” Cook said. “There is no back door. The government doesn’t have access to our servers. They would have to cart us out in a box for that — and that just will not happen. We feel that, strongly about it.”
He went on to say that he would “absolutely” press Congress for more transparency.
