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Tim Cook On Apple’s Strategy: “Life Is Short, It’s Better To Have Friends"
A chatty confab with business partner Box.
OWEN THOMAS SEP 30, 2015
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Apple CEO Tim Cooks embraces Box CEO Aaron Levie at BoxWorks.
Apple CEO Tim Cooks embraces Box CEO Aaron Levie at BoxWorks.
In the Steve Jobs era, Apple's CEO rarely appeared outside of the company's own carefully stage-managed product launches. Tim Cook made a statement just by sitting down with Box CEO Aaron Levie at the online-storage company's annual BoxWorks conference in San Francisco for a conversation Tuesday.
The message: Apple wants to connect with business customers through partners like Box—and IBM, and Cisco, both of whose names Cook repeatedly dropped.
Levie and Cook both praised Microsoft, a company with which both Apple and Box have historically sparred, for becoming a better partner. Microsoft Office now works well on Apple devices and with Box's storage and collaboration services.
"Apple and Microsoft can partner on more things than they can compete on," Cook said. "I’m not a believer in holding grudges. Life is short. You’re going to die soon. It’s better to have friends.