back to article Use your Apple gizmos only for good, says Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that Steve Jobs' vision of the fruity firm's products conquering the world has been a success, while highlighting how smartphones help tackle injustices. Opening with a joke aimed at competitors' products, Cook reminded attendees at the speech at George Washington University, Washington DC, to …

  1. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Linux

    Don't silence your iPhone. Do better. Just don't buy one to start with.

  2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "If you don't have an iPhone, please pass it to the centre aisle"

    Pass something you don't have to the centre aisle?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Load of bollocks. Anyone who needs a lump of metal in their hand to feel "empowered" should join the NRA.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    True-ish

    "...just as Steve envisioned, they empower people all over the world"

    Well they empower the ones who can spare £600 or so.

  5. getHandle

    LOL - how?

    A friend handed me her iPhone (dunno which number) a while back, knowing I was "into mobiles" (Android), asking if I knew how to put it in silent mode. Darned if I could figure out how. In the end I just held the volume down button for a while. Mind you, Lollipop appears to have adopted the same wanky UI design philosophy...

    1. John 104

      Re: LOL - how?

      Apparently you aren't into mob's as much as you say you are... Holding the volume down to go into silent mode has been a feature since... Well, my original Galaxy S had that feature...Not sure about prior to that.

      1. getHandle

        Re: LOL - how?

        Not on my Moto G - holding volume down gradually reduces the volume to zero. Silent mode remembers your preset volume level but switches into silent mode. Then you can just turn it off again to go back to the previous volume level without having to guess.

    2. Handy Plough

      Re: LOL - how?

      So it didn't occur to you to flick the switch on the side? Fuckwits, the pair of you.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: LOL - how?

        The 'hold Vol-Down to make phone silent' facility seems to have disappeared in Lollipop. I'm in no hurry to upgrade from KitKat, so have been keeping an eye how other owners of my handset are getting on with Lollipop first.

        >So it didn't occur to you to flick the switch on the side? Fuckwits, the pair of you.

        That switch can also be configured to lock the screen orientation, IIRC.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: LOL - how?

        The silent mode switch? Funny, never seen a mobile with one of those. Is yours above or below the volume & power buttons?

  6. John 104

    Funny

    Cook noted that Steve Jobs envisioned the company as one which "turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use, tools that would help people realise their dreams and change the world for the better".

    Since the rebirth of Apple via the iMac, I've always looked at Apple like I look at Harley Davidson.. HD is NOT a motorcycle manufacturing company. They are a wann-be tough guy looking, Easy Rider Born To Be Wild dreaming marketing machine that happens to sell motorcycles along with their branded clothing, accessories, etc. There motorcycles are adequate but overpriced. Just like an iPhone...

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Funny

      >overpriced

      What were you comparing the first iPhone to - the LG Prada? :)

    2. Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
      Coat

      Re: Funny

      "turned powerful technology into tools that were easy to use"

      Funny indeed. Companies wriggle like hell to avoid their products being seen as tools. To the point of designing the products as non-utilitary and intrusive as possible. These days it's all about the "experience", "lifestyle", "vision", "technology" and other BS-bingo material. With "ease of use" moniker serving as a warning label.

      Gosh, I'm getting ranty. Need a coat, quickly.

  7. disgruntled yank

    For the non-Americans

    I don't know whether universities outside the US go in for big commencement ceremonies. If not, you should know that it is routine for schools to bring in a celebrity to speak to the crowd. Generally the formula is a bit of self-deprecating humor, mixed in with world-in-your-hands cliches. (I did once hear an exception, delivered by Temple Grandin; but I imagine that Wilson College got away with it only because it is small and little known.) So I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about what Tim Cook said.

  8. graeme leggett Silver badge

    cook meeting wallace

    When did that happen?

    According to internet, Wallace renounced his earlier position in the late 1970s, saying "I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over."

    1. John 104

      Re: cook meeting wallace

      In Birmingham they loved the gov'ner, boo hoo hoo

    2. SkippyBing

      Re: cook meeting wallace

      'According to internet' and the Drive-By Truckers on the album Southern Rock Opera. Who I trust more than the internet. I mean it's not a ringing endorsement, but he did recant.

  9. ItsNotMe
    FAIL

    Wow...

    ...talking about sucking up to your audience!

    Sorry Timmy...completely happy with my Android phone, thank you very much.

    Oh...and Timmy...I just purchased one of your 64GB 5th Gen iPod Touch devices last week, and I want to tell you that compared to my 4th gen Touch...and my 3rd gen Touch...and my two 2nd gen Nanos...this is a REALLY annoying device.

    When I sync just a handful of my albums from my MacBook Pro onto it, because I don't want them all on this device, and if I am connected to Wi-Fi...and open up my "Music" on it...your crappy device tries to download ALL of my Library from your iTunes Music Store.

    And yes Timmy...the MacBook is running the latest version of OS X Yosemite, and the iPod is up to iOS 8.3.

    This is really pissing me off Timmy.

    1. returnmyjedi

      Re: Wow...

      Timmy doesn't give a tuppeny for your iPod, he's all about timepieces and waste-paper baskets nowadays.

      1. John 104

        Re: Wow...

        You got that wrong, return...

        Timmy doesn't give a tuppeny for your iPod, he got your money already.

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Wow...

      >Sorry Timmy...completely happy with my Android phone, thank you very much....This is really pissing me off Timmy.

      Relax. We would expect the CEO of any company to *say* that his products are the best, and we would also expect him to know that we expect him to say that. He merely was acknowledging his position whilst reminding people to turn their phones off in a light hearted way.

  10. VinceH

    "Our products do [these] amazing things, and just as Steve envisioned, they empower people all over the world," said the CEO. "People who witness injustice and want to expose it [...] can, because they have a camera in their pocket all the time."

    He didn't actually say it, and definitely isn't trying to imply it, oh no, but that quote reads to me as though he's trying to lead people to infer that before the iPhone, mobile phones lacked cameras.

    1. Desidero

      Before the iPhone, mobile phones lacked compassion - key on Steve's path to enlightenment. Into the Dharma we go...

  11. Ru'

    I wonder if the former employees of GT Advanced etc. feel all warm and empowered?

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