Tim Cook Talks iPhone Sales At Apple Town Hall

Cook said that the release of Apple Music for Android was a test for Apple’s viability on the Android platform as a whole, potentially opening the door to launch more apps on Google’s operating system in the future.

Apple recently held a Town Hall meeting at their headquarters in Cupertino to talk about the future of the company.

“According to 9To5Mac, Cook reportedly teased some “‘far-off’ hardware announcements” in the upcoming years during the town hall meeting as well, and made a couple comments regarding another Apple rumor, saying that there was a “‘bright’ future for Apple in the living room” with the Apple TV and tvOS. Moreover, Apple would also want to introduce iMessage to Android.

Apparently, several iCloud services, such as email, calendars, notes and reminders are the natural choices to begin with, the media outlet pointed out, adding that the company is even considering the overhauled iCloud photo library for other platforms. Making such iOS services work effectively and securely on Android, however, could be fraught with complications.

Announced in September 2014 and launched with the debut of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus the following month, Apple Pay enables secure and payment-card-free mobile transactions through the iPhone’s Touch ID, a dedicated chip called the “Secure Element” and a NFC (near field communication) antenna. The update now allows users to download music to their SD cards on Android mobile devices.

Apple will need to discover whether there is a demand for many of their apps with similar software already available from the Play Store and if they can fit in and be accepted within the Android ecosystem.

Cook praised the sales successes of the Apple Watch in the fourth quarter of 2015, claiming it outsold the original iPhone during its first holiday season, and predicted iPad sales would rebound. Microsoft over the past year or so has been especially active in expanding the reach of its software and services beyond Windows.