What you need to know
- Tim Cook sat down for an exclusive interview with People.
- The CEO answered questions about how Apple has changed since the pandemic began.
When asked if Apple will ever return to the office for work, CEO Tim Cook says that "largely, I think that we're going to be back at work again, and I can't wait until that happens."
Cook sat down for an exclusive interview with People, answering questions about how the company has adapted to the pandemic and what he expects in the future on how Apple will go back to working in person. While remote work has been effective for the company, the CEO still expects to get back into the office as soon as it is safe.
"My gut says that, for us, it's still very important to physically be in touch with one another because collaboration isn't always a planned activity ... Innovation isn't always a planned activity," Cook adds. "It's bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. And you really need to be together to do that."
While Cook can't wait to get back into the office with everyone else, he does expect that Apple will employ some kind of "hybrid" model for some period of time.
"We're still figuring that out, to be honest with you ... We have realized and learned that there are some things that are perfectly great to do virtually across Zoom or WebEx, whatever, or FaceTime, whatever you might have. So I think it'll be, I'll call it a hybrid environment [for] a little bit."
While the company was impacted by the pandemic, Cook touted Apple's ability to adapt, pointing out that they were still able to ship an impressive lineup of products in 2020.
"You look back, and the shutdown occurred in mid-March. Post that, we had this enormous, prolific product period, [introducing] the first 5G iPhone. We introduced the M1 chip in the Mac. These are major, major accomplishments ... We did all of that while reinventing the way we were working," Cook says. "We're very much an in-person team because we believe that's best for collaboration. But we knew that was no longer possible, or not possible for this period of time. And so we had to reinvent ourselves. And I really give the team credit for really rising to the occasion."
Apple has released a slew of products since the pandemic began. The company has released the iPhone 12, iPad Air, Apple Watch Series 6 and SE, AirPods Max. its first lineup of Apple silicon Macs, and more.
