Apple CEO Cook: If we don't innovate, we'll end up like Nokia

Innovation stands at the center of Apple's plans for the future, CEO Tim Cook tells Bloomberg.

In an interview published Thursday, Cook said Nokia's fall from grace as a dominant force in mobile to an also-ran is a warning to every company competing in the industry.

"I think [Nokia] is a reminder to everyone in business that you have to keep innovating and that to not innovate is to die," Cook told Bloomberg.

Deciding what is true innovation and what is a bore, however, may be a bit more difficult for Apple than in the past. After announcing new iPhones last week, Apple's shares fell on Wall Street, indicating that investors weren't particularly excited about what they saw. Cook told Bloomberg that he wasn't pleased with Wall Street's reaction to the iPhones, adding that it makes him question what's next.

"You have to bring yourself back to, 'Are you doing the right things?'" Cook told Bloomberg. "And so that's what I focus on, instead of letting somebody else or a thing like the market define how I should feel."