Alibaba and Apple aren’t just close in the alphabet, the two companies are also closely watched as two of the most influential players in the technology space, albeit with very different trajectories. Apple has had a great Q3, but the company has been struggling with slowing iPad sales, and has yet to show that its first wearable will be what people want from this new device category. Alibaba on the other hand seemingly came out of nowhere, only to stage the biggest IPO ever last month.
That’s why it will be especially interesting to see both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma on stage at the inaugural WSJ.D Live conference in Laguna Beach, California tonight. Both executives represent radically different companies, and from what we know, both are also very different characters. Cook may like to hang out with rock stars like Bono, but otherwise practices understatement. Ma, on the other hand, likes to rock out himself.
The Wall Street Journal’s first WSJ.D Live conference is kicking off with both executives in beautiful Laguna Beach, California tonight, and I will be covering the event live, whether there will be Lion King renditions or not. Tune in at 6:30 pm PDT for my live blog.
And that concludes the live blog for tonight. I will be covering the WSJ.D conference for the next 1.5 days, and they have a pretty interesting line-up, so make sure to check back tomorrow and Wednesday if you want to know what Hugo Barra has been up to since leaving Google and which sports team Steve Ballmer wants to buy next.
Apple Pay and Alipay – “We love to partner with people that are wicked smart.” Lots of admiration for Jack Ma. “I love what he has done, he is a brilliant guy. I love partnering with people like that.” I guess that’s as close as he can go to say that the two companies will team up.
The last question is about personal health, but also making tech part of your body… “I don’t see Apple going into cancer research,” but wants to play a big role in health. “I think this is a fantastic example of something that enriches lives.”
Q: Will Apple make a low-cost iPhone for developing countries? Cook’s answer: Apple goes as low as it can, but won’t compromise the customer experience. So no Android One-like initiative from Apple…
And it wasn’t worth it building a whole new product for iPods. Sometimes Apple decides to build for small audiences, like Mac Pro, but the iPod just wasn’t worth it.
Why is Apple not making any more iPod classics? “Because we couldn’t get the parts anymore.”
The first audience question is about privacy as well. How much does it need for people to wake up? “People aren’t shaken until something major happens. (…) what that event is I don’t know, but I’m pretty convinced that it will happen.” I guess so much for a Snowden name-drop.
I’m kinda waiting for Cook to name-drop Snowden.
“We are designing a Fort Knox kind of thing. I think our users want that.” If you leave the key under the mat, the bad guy can get it as well…
“If law enforcement wants something, they should go to the user and get it. It’s not for me to do that.”
Now we are talking privacy. “We believe that your data is yours.” Now he brings up a lot of examples that are basically all Google’s business, down to the thermostat.
“We haven’t done the double Irish Dutch sandwich.” Cook says, joking about offshore tax loopholes. But: Apple is the largest taxpayer in the US, paying over $35 billion in federal and state taxes in the US, he says. Cook argues that we need tax reform, not repatriating Apple offshore money… “Force a tax on the offshore piece, but let the capital flow free.”
Repurchasing shares is a good thing, Cook says, but investing in the business is more important.
Now being asked about not paying out higher dividends. “Yes, we have some cash,” Cook acknowledges. But he’d rather like to invest it back in the business, buy companies. But there are some points where Cook agrees with activist investor Carl Icahn. “I agree the company is undervalued.”
Cook would like developers to build for iOS first, and then maybe subsequently port to Android. Cites Android fragmentation, which is less relevant of an argument as Play services are more ubiqutous, but Apple execs like to bring it up nonetheless.
Is the growing market share of Android a danger for Apple? “I think not all market share is created equal.” He doesn’t like Android vs. iOS being compared to Apple vs. Windows in the 90ies, because there are more apps on iOS.
“The interface on your TV… it’s 30 years old. It hasn’t kept up.” Cook calls TV “an area of a lot of interest” says he is optimistic that there can be something great done in this space.
“I think you will see more content companies willing to do this, particularly if the mergers are allowed to occur.” Interesting observation, I guess Cook is hoping for some merger conditions that will make his life easier.
What about Apple TV? What about HBO going over the top? “I think what HBO is doing is very smart.”
Now back to Apple Watch. How abut that battery life? “We think that people are going to use it so much that you end up charging it daily.” As in overnight.
“We are not collecting your data. We are not big brother. We leave that to other people.” That’s what he said, I swear.
Cook had to change his credit card twice over the last year because of fraud. I guess he shops at Home Depot?
“It’s the first and only payment system that’s… easy, private and secure.” Merchants have different objectives, but merchants are only successful if customers love them.
Cook says Apple Pay is already number one in mobile payments, and already bigger than the total of all other guys. Activated over 100 million cards in the first few days. Calls CVS declining it “a squirmish.”
“We announced three collections that are literally millions of configurations.” Cook about the Apple Watch.
Now talking about the Watch. “Health and fitness is a new area… and then we got that fashion thing, which is totally new to us.”
Cook addresses iPad growth head on… well, he says it moved into many markets. “Over the long arc of time, I’m very excited about that business.” As in: Don’t pay too much attention to the last quarter.
“There is a lot of revenue outside of the iPhone.” Mac business grew a lot.”The PC is going down… but we think the Mac has a great future.”
First question: Which line of business will be the biggest for Apple in 5 to 10 years? Cook: Smart phones are going to keep growing, but Apple also has a big software and services business that doesn’t get as much attention.
That’s it for Jack Ma. Next up: Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Ma returns to the subject of environmental pollution, says Chinese skies will be as blue in China in ten years as they are in the U.S. now.
Ma used to be a teacher, made 92 RMB – about $10 per month. He taught for six years. “Right now, I call myself the Chief Education Officer of Alibaba.” Says he wants to put a lot of resources into education.
Ma about internet censorship: “Let’s look at the good side!” He sidesteps questions about government interference as well as the impact his company could have on the government…
Time for Q&A. Someone from the LA Times is asking for him to be more specific about his plans for the movie business. “I come here to learn, I come here to look for partners,” Ma says about Hollywood. China will be the biggest movie market in the world soon.
So how about rumors that Alibaba would work with Apple in China on payments? Ma smiles, says: I hope we can do something together.
So Alibaba wants to step in and fill the void with a mobile OS made for China.
Now we are getting to some tech questions. Alibaba is developing its own Android fork. Is that a threat to Google? Ma says Alibaba is a data company… coming back to the mobile OS, he said that the problem with Android is that Google services don’t work in China after the company left the country.
Q: Would you want to buy Ebay? Ma: Would you sell it? But it would be too early for M&A, he says…
I think both sides should listen, and both sides should step down, Ma says when asked whether “umbrellas will open up in China” soon. He deflected the political dimension, saying that he used to be frustrated as a young person as well, albeit not with the government but with big U.S. tech companies. The he started to work on his own company… so he seems to imply students in Hong Kong should go back to work or school?
Asked about the umbrella uprising in Hong Kong, Ma says: It’s not a Chinese problem, but it’s a problem of young people not having any hope.
Question: How is Alibaba’s relationship with the Chinese government? Ma’s answer: Love them, don’t marry them.
Alibaba’s Alipay service has more than 300 million active users, according to Ma.
Of course he is the former CEO, and now executive chairman. Now Ma is talking about the financial markets in China, arguing that they don’t give out enough money to small businesses.
Wait a second, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma just said that he doesn’t shop online.
Ma says he wants to bring American and European products to China, reversing the flow of goods in a way. Some examples include agricultural products. Apparently Alibaba has sold tons of U.S. cherries in China.
Ma just said that he got all is inspirations for Alibaba from visiting the Silicon Valley.
For the media nerds in the audience – one of the differences between WSJ.D and the AllThingsD conferences it tries to follow up on seems to be that Jack isn’t really getting any tough questions.
Some light banter about the differences between movies in China and the U.S. – but Ma doesn’t really say what he is doing with his media business.
Every night, 80 million people visit Alibaba’s sites without buying anything. Talk about window shopping…
China is getting rich so quickly, we worry about people having deep pockets, but shallow minds, he says. So… movies can educate people?
A company of our size, you have to think about the future, he says. Some of the problems Alibaba wants to solve are related to health and mental health. He didn’t really elaborate on the latter, but mentioned environmental conditions.
Alibaba is an ecosystem helping small business, says Ma. But how does owning a film studio in that strategy? Ma says he is planing for the next ten years.
Apparently Jack Ma recently bought half a soccer team after a drunken binge. Makes for good opening jokes.
Jack Ma is now on stage.
The lights go down… a vaguely Asian gong. And a sitar? Looks like it’s about to start.
More notes on the dinner: The main course is beef. No optional chicken, and no vegetarian option apparently either. When you dine with Rupert, you better be prepared for red meat. Also, the latest news is that Jack Ma will be out at 7.20pm.
Some color as we wait for things to start: This is the first tech conference from the Wall Street Journal after the AllThingsD team left to found Recode. So tech journalists are also looking how this event will stack up, and how similar WSJ.D will be to the D brand as it is known from Kara Swisher, Walt Mossberg and team. Ironically, Recode is hosting its won conference on he very same day. As I joked on Twitter, it’s like divorced parents competing to celebrate the holidays.
There is now a break as they serve dinner. We had our salad, if anyone cares. Again, Jack Ma should come out a little after 7pm, Tim Cook probably closer to 8pm.
Now remarks from News Corp CEO Robert Thompson. Just to give you an idea for the scenery, we are sitting on the lawn of an upscale SoCal hotel. The ocean is behind us, and there are approximately 25 tables with ten people each. It feels like a wedding. Like, the ones Rupert Murdoch likes to go to.
Now remarks from News Corp CEO Robert Thompson. Just to give you an idea for the scenery, we are sitting on the lawn of an upscale SoCal hotel. The ocean is behind us, and there are approximately 25 tables with ten people each. It feels like a wedding. Like, the ones Rupert Murdoch likes to go to.
We are now hearing opening remarks, word is that Jack Ma will be on first, but it could take another half hour…








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