Yesterday, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook met the class of all-female founders at the company’s first Foundations program in the UK. As he shared on Twitter, “these developers are on their way to making and achieving extraordinary things.”
While doing so, Cook also gave an interview to the BBC where he said that there’s “no good excuse” for the lack of women in tech, and later teased an AR future.
In the interview, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook says the technology “will not achieve nearly what it could achieve” without a diverse workforce.
“I think the essence of technology and its effect on humanity depends upon women being at the table. Technology’s a great thing that will accomplish many things, but unless you have diverse views at the table that are working on it, you don’t wind up with great solutions,” said Cook in the interview.
In addition to promoting Foundation programs, Apple is also trying to lead the way. In its 2021 annual report of diversity figures, 35% of the company’s staff in the US is composed of women. The Cupertino company has five female executives in its 22 leadership roles.
“Businesses can’t cop out and say ‘there’s not enough women taking computer science – therefore I can’t hire enough’. We have to fundamentally change the number of people that are taking computer science and programming.”
Tim Cook addresses EarPods sales and AR future
Top comment by Jeff Hobbs
The interview offers interesting tidbits about EarPods sales as the reporter said Tim Cook “was fascinated by my BBC audio recorder and turned it over in his hands a few times once we had finished our interview.”
I confessed that I’d had to ask his colleagues if I could borrow some wired headphones to plug into it – Apple largely ditched the headphone socket from its iPhones in 2016, in favour of wireless in-ear AirPods.
“Oh we still sell those,” he said seriously of the wired pair hanging from my ears. “People still buy them.”
Last but not least, Cook, who has bet on an augmented reality future also said that “in the future, people will wonder how we lived without AR,” and completed by saying “we’re investing a ton in that space.”
Apple’s rumored headset will likely be introduced in the next year, and you can learn more about it here.
What did you think of Tim Cook’s interview? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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