Apple held a meeting for their shareholders today (via CNBC), at which Tim Cook said a lot of interesting things – that Apple wouldn’t begin offering a dividend at the moment, and discussing what Apple may do with their massive cash reserves: “We will do what we think is in the best interest of shareholders.” His most interesting comments, however, were about Facebook.
When asked by a shareholder about the company’s relationship with Zuckerberg’s giant social network, Cook stated that he thinks the companies could do more together:
I’ve always thought that the two companies could do more together. We’ve integrated Twitter … It’s been great for Twitter, and it’s been equally great for our users.
But what does that really mean? To me, Cook’s wording suggests that he may be considering, or at least would entertain the idea of integrating Facebook into Apple’s products as well, which would likely begin with integration into iOS.
Evidence suggesting that Apple may be working on Facebook integration was found in pre-release versions of iOS 5, but those references were removed in the final release, which integrated Twitter as the social network of choice instead.
There has been some friction between Apple and Facebook, but considering that Tim Cook still considers them a “friend,” and the face that Facebook could benefit tremendously from Apple’s endorsement, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple and Facebook cozying up together in the near future.
