Inside Scoop: Tim Cook talks privacy at Apple's shareholder meeting
Tech Industry
Apple's annual shareholder meeting has just wrapped up.
Connie Guglielmo from CNET News, Editor-in-Chief, has just been inside.
Now Connie, the big question on everyone's lips, how did Tim Cook respond to the San Bernadino and FBI investigation?
I think the most interesting thing was how shareholders in the room responded.
As soon as he walked in, there about 500 shareholders attending the meeting, they gave him a standing ovation.
So even though there's some public opinion polls with mixed results on what people think of Apple's stance against the FBI, shareholders today decidedly were in Apple's favor.
So I know you've got Reverend Jessie Jackson and the Electronic Frontier Foundation were also in attendance, what did they say?
So they were among the first two speakers in the question and answer session and they addressed
The FBI case against Apple.
They applauded Tim Cook's stance and Apple's stance for privacy on behalf of their customers.
Reverend Jackson actually called Tim Cook a man of integrity and character, and he applauded him for standing up for the rights of everyone, not just the single iPhone user.
In terms of business results and product performance, do we get any extra insights from Tim Cook on that?
he really just recalls the great year that Apple has had from a product perspective and also from a revenue and profit perspective.
Apple is the most valuable company in the world.
Sharers of the company have been up and down.
That's more reaction to some of the things they're doing.
But in terms of product sales and revenue, Apple had a banner and record year, and he pointed that out.
And he particularly called out how successful they've been in China.
They're have been a lot of questions about doing business in China.
But he made a point of saying that the middle class in China, which had been 5 million people 5 years ago is expected to be half a billion people in five years.
Apple sees huge upside in China and has invested by opening a lot of retail stores there.
And apart from the standing ovation how else did share holders react to team [UNKNOWN] announcement?
You know it was very interesting.
After the EFF Reverend Jackson comment Most of the shareholder questions were about the business of Apple.
People asked about their interest in going after business customers through the retail store, they asked about iOS software being compatible with older devices, they asked about services revenue.
So the shareholders were very interested in getting back to the business of how Apple does things.
And the last question they asked was about the new campus.
Apple is building a giant new campus That former CEO Steve Jobs helped design before he died.
It's going to be done starting in January, people will be moving in.
Shareholders, about 500 of them, more than 500 of them were here today, that some ended up in the overflow room and Tim Cook assured them that in about two years, he'll have a giant meeting room so that everyone can be in the same room and ask questions.
Connie, thank you so much.
And for the latest Apple news and analysis head to cnet.com.
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