Tim Cook shows Stephen Colbert a more people-friendly side of Apple
Tim Cook appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday to show off the new iPhone 6s in Rose Gold, and ended up also showing a more approachable side of Apple, one that was not too big nor too cool to be in on the jokes.
“I have to admit I feel a little naked,” Cook said after being asked whether he was comfortable talking in front of an audience without a presentation remote.
After getting through the requisite promo talk of the new iPhone 6s, and new features like 3D Touch and Live Photos, Cook stuck around to discuss coming out as gay, all those “opportunistic” Steve Jobs biopics, and the much-rumored driverless iCar.
“You guys aren’t big on secrets, tell me about,” Colbert prodded. Last week on the show, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said that Apple was working on a driverless car technology. “Cat’s out of the bag,” Colbert added.
But of course, Cook neither confirmed nor denied the rumor, instead saying, “We look at a number of things along the way, and we decide to really put our energies into a few of those.” Which is totally the new TV interview version of that stock, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans” non-statement statement.
Cook also talked about Steve Jobs, more specifically about the recent movies that depict the Apple founder in a not-so-positive light.
“The Steve I knew was an amazing human being,” Cook said, admitting he hadn’t seen any of the “opportunistic” movie. “He’s someone that you wanted to do your best work for... He had this uncanny ability to see around the corner and describe the future. Not an evolutionary future but a revolutionary future.”
Colbert then asked Cook about coming out as gay, and whether that was “an upgrade or just a feature that had not been turned on.” Cook later responded that for his Apple colleagues, finding out about his sexuality was “like discovering something on your iPhone it’s always done but you didn’t quite know it.”
Watch the entire interview below and stick to the end to find out what happened when Colbert asked Siri to interview her boss.