15 interesting points from Tim Cook’s D11 interview

Earlier this evening, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook took the stage at AllThingsD’s D11 conference to talk about all things Apple. Cook rarely does interviews, but he looked like a pro fielding questions from tech veterans Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

Over the course of the hour-long talk, the trio discussed a wide range of fascinating topics including iWatch rumors, iOS 7 and Android’s growing marketshare. And as usual, we’ve combed through it all to bring you the 15 most interesting points…

• Apple sold 85 million iPhones and 42 million iPads in last two quarters
• iOS devices account for 59% of mobile web usage
• It’s sold more than 13 million Apple TVs all together—half of that came in the last year
• Cook thinks Apple has “incredible ideas” and has “several more game changers” in it
• When pressed about Apple’s plans for the living room, Cook said “there is a grand vision.”
• Cook said he sees wearables space as “a very important branch of the tree,” and thinks Apple will be “very involved” in it
• Jony Ive is in fact working on iOS 7 “We recognized Jony had contributed significantly to the look and feel of Apple over many many years, and he could do that for our software as well.”
• On making multiple iPhones at different price points, Cook said “we haven’t [done it] yet, but that doesn’t shut it out for the future.”
• On the idea of an iPhone with a larger display, Cook said “a large screen today comes with a lot of tradeoffs” and Apple won’t go that route while those tradeoffs still exist.
• iMessage delivers 2 billion messages per day.
• Cook said rumors of Apple making a bid for Waze were vehemently false
• Apple has acquired 9 companies since last October—typically does 6-7 per year
• On major acquisitions, Cook said “We’re not currently looking at a big one, but we’re not opposed to doing that.”
• Apple will soon be opening up much more of its iOS API to developers
• Cook said Apple has ‘no religions issue’ with porting its apps or services to Android

While Cook didn’t really reveal anything new tonight, he did answer a lot of questions more candidly than I would’ve thought he would. For example, when he confirmed that Jony Ive was working on iOS 7, or gave specific number of acquisitions.

If nothing else, his comments have increased my anticipation for WWDC next month, and Apple’s expected fall media event(s). The iPad-maker hasn’t announced a new product or service yet this year, so the pre-holiday quarter is shaping up to be huge.