Apple CEO Tim Cook made his television debut on Thursday night, sitting down for a one-on-one interview with NBC's Brian Williams. The interview was unsurprisingly sprinkled with what sounded like PR speak from Cook, and most of what he had to say mirrored what we already read from a similar Bloomberg Businessweek interview published yesterday. And while Cook wouldn't cop to having an Apple-branded TV set in the works, he did repeatedly say that Apple has an "intense interest" in the television market.
Still, there were a couple frank moments.
Williams noted that in the entire history of business, no other company had managed to constantly stay on top. There was a "natural cycle," Williams said, and eventually Apple would surely fade. "Don't bet against us," Cook retorted.
Williams asked how Cook felt about Samsung's recent ad campaign for the Galaxy SIII, which pokes fun at Apple customers who wait in long lines to get the latest iPhone. The ads paint iPhone users as unhip, suggesting the iPhone is something only your parents would use.
"We love our customers," Cook said. "We'll fight to defend them from anyone."
Williams also asked how Cook felt about former CEO Steve Jobs' passing, which seemed to happen rather suddenly despite his ongoing health problems.
"I always thought [Steve] would bounce back, because he always did," Cook admitted. "And, it wasn't until extremely close to the end that I reached a sort of intellectual point that... he couldn't bounce this time."
You can watch the full interview online at MSNBC (Flash required), and we have embedded a version uploaded to YouTube below. We think the 20 minutes is worth watching if just to catch a glimpse of Cook's high school yearbook photo, replete with fashionable perm.
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