CNBC interview after WWDC 2008

2008-06-096:21English

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

Maybe technology's worst kept secret, the Apple iPhone 3G.
Congratulations on order because you got this thing out the door within that first year of the original iPhone's release.
Walk me through some of the finer points because you were real cagey about displaying this thing on stage.
So you've got one here. Show me why this is such a significant increase to what you've had before.
Well, you know, we shipped the iPhone just about a year ago, as you said, and we've got millions and millions of happy users.
But we did assemble a next set of challenges, and the first one was really to get on the higher speed 3G networks around the world.
And so the iPhone 3G does that, and it achieves, you can do data downloads significantly faster, which is great when you're in the browser,
As you know, the iPhone has revolutionized mobile browsing.
And it's great when you're downloading email attachments and doing all sorts of other things.
So the iPhone 3G is, you know, typically two and up to, you know, many, many more times faster than the network we were using called Edge.
And that's great.
We've also built in GPS into the iPhone 3G, so you can get your location.
Location-based services is an exploding area of applications on the iPhone.
And the new iPhone 3G also has built-in enterprise support,
so it connects to Microsoft Exchange wirelessly over ActiveSync right out of the box for enterprises.
And it's got built-in support to run third-party applications,
and we saw a bunch of those today.
There's hundreds of them being built, and they're really good.
looking at this device, evolutionary or revolutionary
compared to what those 6 million individuals have already bought
that was available in the marketplace?
Well, I think a lot of them are going to want to upgrade.
But what we tend to do is rather than be all over the map,
we tend to kind of pick a direction and improve upon it
year after year after year.
And so, you know, the iPhone 3G looks a lot like the iPhone,
It's even sleeker at the edges and it feels even better in the hand.
It's even more durable.
And it adds those features that customers have really wanted and some that they didn't even think they wanted.
Talk to me about price because that's also a major part of the announcement.
There was a lot of speculation that there would be carrier subsidies to get this price down.
You know, gasoline prices are $4 a gallon around the United States now for the first time.
People are extremely price conscious.
They're recession-scored.
And yet, there was a concern that iPhone was going to basically price itself out of the marketplace.
And you're trying to address that in a pretty significant way.
Well, you know, we've always tried to make the iPhone as inexpensive as we could.
And we put a lot of work into the iPhone 3G to get it down to where we could sell it for $199.
And we think at $199, it's going to be affordable to almost everybody.
And that's our goal.
When you made that announcement, your stock, and I know you don't typically like to talk about your stock,
but people are worried that maybe you're going to suffer a revenue hit as you try to lower the price.
What do you say to those investors who look at this and say,
geez, you know, I'm worried that a lower price for consumers might not be good for me as an Apple stockholder?
Well, you know, I think we've done pretty well for our stockholders over the last decade.
and I would just encourage them to trust us that maybe we know what we're doing
and maybe we're pricing this in a way that's going to be great for everybody.
It's going to be great for the users who can now afford them.
It's going to be great for the developers who have more of a base to distribute their applications to
and it's going to be great for us.
Final couple questions for you.
Looking at where the iPhone is now, you mentioned 70 countries way ahead of the 25 that you had anticipated,
or as you set a goal for yourself in 2008, 70, you know, almost three times better than what you had anticipated.
But still no India, still no China.
I'm sorry, you've got India, but you're still working on China, and everybody seems...
The two big ones we just didn't have a chance to get close were Russia and China,
and I think you'll see those happen later this year.
And when you look at those markets, how important are they for the overall success of this phone?
People are waiting with bated breath to get iPhone legitimately into those markets.
Obviously, you even alluded to it during your comments.
You know, I think every market's important, and we have to get through the regulatory bodies in China,
which we're in the process of doing.
And I think later on this year, you'll hear some announcements.
But 70 countries is a lot of countries.
And we're launching in 22 of the biggest simultaneously.
Simultaneously on July 11th.
So I think we're going to be off to a fast start.
The Olympics would be a good time to maybe announce that China deal.
And finally, he says optimistically, finally, the stock has been whipsawed.
You have taken pains over the course of the year or two to sort of reassure investors that things are under control.
We've seen a dramatic increase in Apple's share price since the lows earlier this year and certainly what you suffered towards the end of last year.
What's your sense about where this company is at financially?
Are you pleased with where things are going?
Does Wall Street still frustrate you?
What's your sense of that?
You know, we've been having record quarter after record quarter.
So we're very pleased with how the company is doing.
And, you know, Wall Street, I've never been able to figure out Wall Street.
But someone once told me, manage the top line, which is your strategy, your talented people,
and your execution.
And the bottom line will take care of itself.
And I've always found that to be the case.
So we're turning in record quarter after record quarter,
and Wall Street eventually comes out in the right place.
So far, so good, as it were.
Steve Jobs, thanks very much for being with us.
Sure.
Thanks for having me.

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

Maybe technology's worst kept secret, the Apple iPhone 3G.

Congratulations on order because you got this thing out the door within that first year of the original iPhone's release.

Walk me through some of the finer points because you were real cagey about displaying this thing on stage.

So you've got one here. Show me why this is such a significant increase to what you've had before.

Well, you know, we shipped the iPhone just about a year ago, as you said, and we've got millions and millions of happy users.

But we did assemble a next set of challenges, and the first one was really to get on the higher speed 3G networks around the world.

And so the iPhone 3G does that, and it achieves, you can do data downloads significantly faster, which is great when you're in the browser,

As you know, the iPhone has revolutionized mobile browsing.

And it's great when you're downloading email attachments and doing all sorts of other things.

So the iPhone 3G is, you know, typically two and up to, you know, many, many more times faster than the network we were using called Edge.

And that's great.

We've also built in GPS into the iPhone 3G, so you can get your location.

Location-based services is an exploding area of applications on the iPhone.

And the new iPhone 3G also has built-in enterprise support,

so it connects to Microsoft Exchange wirelessly over ActiveSync right out of the box for enterprises.

And it's got built-in support to run third-party applications,

and we saw a bunch of those today.

There's hundreds of them being built, and they're really good.

looking at this device, evolutionary or revolutionary

compared to what those 6 million individuals have already bought

that was available in the marketplace?

Well, I think a lot of them are going to want to upgrade.

But what we tend to do is rather than be all over the map,

we tend to kind of pick a direction and improve upon it

year after year after year.

And so, you know, the iPhone 3G looks a lot like the iPhone,

It's even sleeker at the edges and it feels even better in the hand.

It's even more durable.

And it adds those features that customers have really wanted and some that they didn't even think they wanted.

Talk to me about price because that's also a major part of the announcement.

There was a lot of speculation that there would be carrier subsidies to get this price down.

You know, gasoline prices are $4 a gallon around the United States now for the first time.

People are extremely price conscious.

They're recession-scored.

And yet, there was a concern that iPhone was going to basically price itself out of the marketplace.

And you're trying to address that in a pretty significant way.

Well, you know, we've always tried to make the iPhone as inexpensive as we could.

And we put a lot of work into the iPhone 3G to get it down to where we could sell it for $199.

And we think at $199, it's going to be affordable to almost everybody.

And that's our goal.

When you made that announcement, your stock, and I know you don't typically like to talk about your stock,

but people are worried that maybe you're going to suffer a revenue hit as you try to lower the price.

What do you say to those investors who look at this and say,

geez, you know, I'm worried that a lower price for consumers might not be good for me as an Apple stockholder?

Well, you know, I think we've done pretty well for our stockholders over the last decade.

and I would just encourage them to trust us that maybe we know what we're doing

and maybe we're pricing this in a way that's going to be great for everybody.

It's going to be great for the users who can now afford them.

It's going to be great for the developers who have more of a base to distribute their applications to

and it's going to be great for us.

Final couple questions for you.

Looking at where the iPhone is now, you mentioned 70 countries way ahead of the 25 that you had anticipated,

or as you set a goal for yourself in 2008, 70, you know, almost three times better than what you had anticipated.

But still no India, still no China.

I'm sorry, you've got India, but you're still working on China, and everybody seems...

The two big ones we just didn't have a chance to get close were Russia and China,

and I think you'll see those happen later this year.

And when you look at those markets, how important are they for the overall success of this phone?

People are waiting with bated breath to get iPhone legitimately into those markets.

Obviously, you even alluded to it during your comments.

You know, I think every market's important, and we have to get through the regulatory bodies in China,

which we're in the process of doing.

And I think later on this year, you'll hear some announcements.

But 70 countries is a lot of countries.

And we're launching in 22 of the biggest simultaneously.

Simultaneously on July 11th.

So I think we're going to be off to a fast start.

The Olympics would be a good time to maybe announce that China deal.

And finally, he says optimistically, finally, the stock has been whipsawed.

You have taken pains over the course of the year or two to sort of reassure investors that things are under control.

We've seen a dramatic increase in Apple's share price since the lows earlier this year and certainly what you suffered towards the end of last year.

What's your sense about where this company is at financially?

Are you pleased with where things are going?

Does Wall Street still frustrate you?

What's your sense of that?

You know, we've been having record quarter after record quarter.

So we're very pleased with how the company is doing.

And, you know, Wall Street, I've never been able to figure out Wall Street.

But someone once told me, manage the top line, which is your strategy, your talented people,

and your execution.

And the bottom line will take care of itself.

And I've always found that to be the case.

So we're turning in record quarter after record quarter,

and Wall Street eventually comes out in the right place.

So far, so good, as it were.

Steve Jobs, thanks very much for being with us.

Sure.

Thanks for having me.