Tim Cook: Apple Won’t Give Gov’t iMessages, We’re About Changing the World

Apple's Tim Cook on Charlie Rose, in three minutes (USA Today)

SAN MATEO — Charlie Rose interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook for the first time on his show, and it's out on the Web. It's 54 minutes. And that's just the first part.

THE COMPETITION

It's Google and ... really no one else. Samsung on hardware, but that's largely because Google's Android software enables Samsung, which Cook calls the best of the Android hardware makers. Facebook is more of a partner than a rival, he says.

Amazon? We have "little relationship" with Amazon, Cook says. And besides, it's not a product company. Apple is a product company, Cook says. Could that change? You'd have to ask Jeff Bezos, he tells Rose.

DIVERSITY

He believes in diversity – "with a Capital D," he says. He means: Diversity of Thought.

APPLE TV

It's got over 20 million users, so Apple doesn't consider it a hobby product. Regular TV "is stuck back in the '70s."

CHINA

Apple's business in Greater China in the last year was about $30 billion with a "b." As in BIG.