Tim Cook: Standing up to Federal Bureau of Investigation is ‘right thing to do’

The proposal failed 94.9% to 5.1%, the Guardian reported, citing an announcement at Apple’s annual shareholder meeting on Friday. Yes, it was boring and tiresome and scripted. However, the Cupertino-based company is still tight-lipped about the progress of the said project.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has firmly and clearly sided with Apple, stating the company will file an amicus brief next week.

“If a court can ask us to write this piece of software, think about what else they could ask us to write – maybe it’s an operating system for surveillance, maybe the ability for the law enforcement to turn on the camera”, Cook said. The specific question was: “Do you agree with Apple’s decision to oppose the court order to unlock a smartphone that was used by one of the shooters in the San Bernardino attack? “. The great thing about being here is we’re curious people. “I can commit to you we are working very hard on it”.

Cook spent a good amount of time dealing with issues of diversity and inclusion.

Shares of Apple have tumbled about 22 percent since its shareholder meeting last March. When asked about the vehicle project, Cook would only say that Apple is always interested in exploring new technologies and types of products.

In a lighter moment during the Q&A, a shareholder in town from Boston said that he had lost a lot of music on Apple Music and he has had trouble using iCloud.

Whether or not Cook meant to characterize the project this way, calling the current development period “Christmas Eve” doesn’t exactly deny that the Apple Car is coming eventually if the EV is “Christmas Day” in this metaphor. Like past year, Apple’s rumored electric vehicle project came up, only the Apple CEO didn’t automatically defer to CarPlay this go around. “It’s going to be Christmas Eve for awhile”.

Cook’s appearance in front of shareholders capped quite a week for the company. Second-time attending shareholder, Don Wexler of Lake Tahoe, said that the meeting was “fantastic” and that he plans to return next year.

Okay, joking aside, this is at least the first real response from Cook, whereas until now he’s basically ignored or skipped around questions about the auto project.