Apple CEO responds to Donald Trump's call to boycott its products
Surprise, surprise: the CEO of Apple apparently disagrees with Donald Trump's call to boycott Apple products.
In a lengthy new interview with Time Magazine about Apple's ongoing fight with the FBI, CEO Tim Cook was asked whether he believes the Republican presidential frontrunner called for a boycott because of a misunderstanding about Apple's position.
"I haven’t talked to him so I don’t know what he thinks," Cook said, according to a transcript of the interview published Thursday.
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"The way I look at it is, Apple is this great American company that could have only happened here," Cook continued. "And we see it as our responsibility to stand up on something like this and speak up for all these people that are thinking what we’re thinking but don’t have the voice."
Trump, an iPhone user and one-time Apple shareholder, called for a boycott of Apple products last month in response to the company's decision to refuse to help build a tool for law enforcement to crack into an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the gunman behind the mass shooting in San Bernardino.
The boycott idea seemed to come to Trump spontaneously during a rally.
"What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number," Trump said at an event last month. "How do you like that? I just thought of that. Boycott Apple."
And then he just ran with it.
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Apple refrained from reacting to Trump in public, though one senior executive was quoted on background as saying that "Apple was in fine company based on other people Trump has attacked," as CNN paraphrased him.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has criticized Apple, Facebook and Amazon, among others. Some, including Cook, reportedly attended a private event earlier this month with Republican legislators, where the subject of Trump's ascent was front and center.
Not all tech CEOs have been as diplomatic as Cook in their public responses to Trump's attacks.
After Trump went after Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, the technology mogul subtly suggested we launch Trump into space.
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BONUS: Should Apple Unlock iPhones for the FBI?
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Topics Apple Donald Trump
Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
