Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said the company is looking into cryptocurrency features, but did not elaborate on what it might include.
Cook made the remarks Tuesday at the New York Times Dealbook conference. Cook said that although the company has no immediate plans to enable crypto functionality in Apple Pay, “there are other things we’re definitely looking at.”
Cook revealed that he personally invests in cryptocurrency, but has no plans to invest Apple’s cash in the asset. “I don’t think people buy Apple stock to get exposure to crypto,” he said. Nor does Apple have any immediate plans to accept cryptocurrency for its products. He also called NFTs – non-fungible tokens – an “interesting” part of crypto.
In the world of payments, Apple is considered by some to be lagging behind in implementing cryptocurrency support. Square Inc., PayPal Inc. and its popular Venmo service all support various crypto features, while Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. have both shown willingness to accept the currency in the future. Earlier this year, Tesla Inc. briefly accepted crypto as a payment method for its cars.
During the conference, Cook also defended Apple’s App Store commission rate, saying most developers are charged a 15% cut instead of the full 30%. However, he added that there will be more changes to the App Store in the future. He also noted that users who want to side-load — installing apps from the Web or elsewhere instead of the App Store — can buy Android devices instead of iPhones.
When asked about Meta Platforms Inc. and its Metaverse push, Cook said augmented reality is a key technology for Apple. Bloomberg News reports that the company plans to unveil its mixed reality headset early next year.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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