Cook: “Stay Tuned” Apple TV + Facebook

Cook was speaking at AllThingsDigital D10 conference in the US this week, adding to speculation Cupertino is working on its very own TV display that would rival the likes of Samsung and Panasonic.

He also revealed 2.7 million of the HD Apple TV set top boxes had been sold so far this year, compared to 2.8m in the whole of last year.

But Apple boss also hinted to closer integration with Facebook, when asked by journalists: 

“”We want to provide customers simple and elegant ways to do the things they want to do,” he said.

“Facebook has hundreds of millions of customers so anyone that has an iPhone or iPad, we want them to have the best experience with Facebook on those platforms.

“So stay tuned. The relationship is solid.”

Just last week Facebook launched a dedicated ‘Camera’ app for iPhone, meaning Apple bid to integration with the social network king with over 901 million member is well underway. 

Cook also admitted Apple Ping, its attempt at social network music discovery on iTunes, could also be killed off.

On Siri, iPhone’s voice assistant, Cook had more good news, saying: Apple fans will be “really pleased with some of the things you see over the coming months.”

Apple increased integration with Facebook marks another departure from the Jobs era, who previously blasted discussions with Facebook as “onerous” although Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, were said to be close.

But as Cook makes hints about Facebook and Apple TV, he also pledged to “double down” on Apple notorious secrecy on new products or “cool ideas”.

“Steve was a genius and a visionary, and I’ve never viewed that my role was to replace him,” he said. Cook replaced Jobs as Apple CEO not long before his death last year.

“Steve was an original. I’ve never really felt the weight of trying to be Steve. It’s not my goal in life. I am who I am. I am focused on that. On being a great CEO of Apple.”