For its 50th anniversary celebration, Apple invited The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen to Apple Park to meet up with Apple CEO Tim Cook.


Cohen and Cook took a look at rare archival materials from the early days of Apple, some of which Cook wasn't even familiar with. Cook said that he had seen a lot of the devices for the first time while preparing for Apple's 50th anniversary.

Items on display included the first patent Apple filed, which was for the Apple II, the original 2001 iPod, early iPhone components and prototypes, the Apple Watch Cook wore on stage when announcing the device, and more.

According to Cook, the launch of the iPhone was his favorite moment at Apple. When asked why, he said it was because a phone was something everyone at Apple was using every day.

We were using that generation's smart phone, and it was such an awful experience. And I love the fact that all of a sudden you had this touch interface, and it worked like your mind worked.

Cook declined to speak on future products, but he suggested Apple's next hit would be something that "finds the intersection of hardware, software, and services." Cook also declined to comment on talk about him retiring. "My answer to that is when the day comes, I'll know it," he said.

Apple celebrated its 50th anniversary with a Paul McCartney concert for employees last night, and today, in addition to speaking with the ‌Wall Street Journal‌, Cook sent out a heartfelt letter to employees.

Today officially marks Apple's 50th anniversary. And as we've celebrated that milestone this month, I've been reflecting on some powerful words from Steve.

"When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is," he said. "But life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. You can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again."

This is the ethos that brought Apple into the world in 1976--and for fifty years, it's what has drawn the smartest, most passionate, most creative and most committed people to this company.

We come here to do the best work of our lives, and to reach beyond what any of us could do alone. To be part of a culture that asks us to stay curious, to collaborate deeply, to demand excellence of ourselves and the people around us, and to believe--genuinely believe--that we can do the impossible.

Across our teams and across generations, we've been united by a simple belief: the future isn't something you wait for. It's something you build. And it is staggering to think of everything we've built together.

Fifty years ago, there was a single computer prototype in a garage. Today, there are 2.5 billion active Apple devices in the hands of people in every corner of the earth - helping them create, communicate, learn and connect in ways that would have seemed unimaginable then.

It's impossible to fully quantify the profound impact this company and its people have had on the world. And it's a truly special thing to do what we do every day, knowing that our work is squarely focused on empowering people and enriching their lives.

Whether you joined this year or have been here for dozens of years, I hope you take a minute to reflect on how much your work means. Thank you.

Thank you for pushing yourselves further than you thought you could go. Thank you for believing in our mission and holding fast to our values. Thank you for dedicating yourself to something so much bigger than any one of us.

As extraordinary as it is to reflect on the past fifty years, what excites me most is what comes next. The opportunities ahead of us are among the greatest we have ever seen - and there's no team in the world better positioned to meet them.

Thank you for everything and here's to the next fifty years.

Prior to today, Apple also celebrated its 50th anniversary with a series of concerts and events around the world.
This article, "Tim Cook Says iPhone Launch Was His Favorite Apple Moment in 50th Anniversary Interview" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple's CEO Tim Cook has maintained a working relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, and he touched on that in a recent interview.


Cook sat down with Esquire's Ryan D'Agostino to discuss Apple's 50th anniversary, but he was also asked about how he navigates the Trump administration.

Cook responded by saying that "the Trump administration is very accessible."

"So you can talk with them about your point of view on things," said Cook. "They may not agree, but you can engage. You can be heard. You may not, in the end, be able to convince. But engagement for me, not just in the U.S. but around the world, is so important because it is very complex, working through local laws, local customs, local culture, local regulations. Every country is its own story. Everybody's looks at things differently."

"The only way you get a feel for that is to sit before someone and communicate and engage," he added. "If you went in my conference room, you would see the Teddy Roosevelt quote 'It is not the critic who counts.' I've never believed that just yelling from the sideline about plus or minus was a good strategy. Your voice just goes into the wind."

Cook went on to say that it is important to have "values that are consistent," and he assured that Apple's values and his own have not changed.

He emphasized Apple's focus on user privacy, the environment, accessibility, and education.

"So you'll see me everywhere, and you'll wonder 'oh, he's meeting with somebody that has a different view than him,'" Cook concluded. "I think that's good. I think it's good. I think a problem in the world right now is that it's so polarized and different views aren't shared or discussed. They just become hardened. And I don't think that's good."

In an interview last month, Cook said he is "not a political person."

"I interact on policy, not politics," he said.
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