Hints at Facebook integration in future tech

Apple would like to integrate Facebook more deeply into its products, CEO Tim Cook suggested at Apple's annual shareholders meeting today. "Facebook: friend. We do a lot with them, our users use Facebook an enormous amount...I've always thought that the two companies could do more together," Cook commented during the meeting's Q&A session. "We've integrated Twitter...It's been great for Twitter, but it's been great for our users." He also noted that iMessage traffic has been "incredible" so far.

Apple is known to have wanted to integrate Facebook support into Ping, but failed. The company in fact jumped the gun, including Facebook hooks in Ping for a few short hours before removing them. Cook's comments suggest that Apple could integrate Facebook into any number of products, such as iOS, which already has built-in Twitter sharing.

Another topic raised by shareholders was the possibility of an Apple-made TV set. "Obviously, I'm not going to comment on your second question," said Cook. Still another person suggested that Apple spend some of its massive cash reserves on scholarships for science and engineering, but Cook deflected this by saying that many Apple workers are donating to educational causes, and having those contributions matched. "The contributions Apple will make to education will mostly come from our products," he remarked, using iBooks Author as an example.

"We either gave equipment or gave discounts on equipment of three quarters of a billion dollars last year," Cook elaborated. CFO Peter Oppenheimer added that the company had over 600 interns at its Cupertino headquarters last summer, more than ever.

by MacNN Staff