The 2019 Apple Shareholders Meeting

Two days ago, on March 1st, 2019, Apple held their own shareholders meeting at the Steve Jobs Theater. The 2019 Apple Shareholders Meeting explains how the Cupertino company faced its controversial issues and a teaser for the next iPad Pro. Various shareholders brought up issues over the last year, and they voted whether Apple’s board of executives should disclose ideological information about nominees.

The meeting started with the enthusiastic Tim Cook, which he had the same excitement as a September Apple event. He kicked off the meeting by this phrase:

“I love this meeting because I get to see some of my old friends here that I only see maybe once a year.”

Excitement is integral in every Apple event or meeting Tim Cook steps into. When it comes to shareholder meetings, many of the people attending the event only goes there once a year. It’s not a media event, but it’s for investors and shareholders of Apple.

Next, Kate Adams, the general counsel of Apple, takes over to talk about business in the meeting. Kate suggested that Apple is in need of more conservatives in the board. She also explained about ideological diversity in the board. There’s another suggestion that Apple is donating $1 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center, despite that one shareholder didn’t approve it because it’s a “hate group.” More negativity over Apple went around for a few more minutes until Craig Federighi went on stage.

Craig Federighi answered questions related to Apple products. One of the questions the shareholders asked to him is about the iPad Pro. Craig said the iPad Pro will be able to transfer large video files via its USB-C port soon. He even teased a little about the new iPad Pro.

Not only Craig Federighi talked about the iPad Pro, but other people asked questions about Apple. One person asked him if the Apple Watch should have its own second hand. Another person asked about FileMaker for iPad.

Now Tim Cook came back on stage to discuss about the Apple Watch. He noted that the greatest contribution to mankind will involve in health. This is significant because Apple will be highly focusing on health and fitness this year. This will go to the ECG and many other health features on the Apple Watch. Cook also said that AirPods are like “a cultural phenomenon and white EarPods”.

Cook restates all of Apple’s privacy practices in the meeting. He also discusses Apple’s values in capitalism, environment, diversity, and immigration. Apple believes in all of these values because it’s good to the company. It’s true that these values are important to Apple, as 50% of recently hired Apple employees are from underrepresented groups. Especially the expenses for research and development has risen to $14 million.

Therefore, this year’s Apple Shareholders Meeting turned out to be an enjoyable morning. The discussion from the business inside Apple to its products went out smoothly. Craig Federighi carried over some fun with the Apple products in this meeting, including the positive side of Apple. We hope on March 25th Apple will be introducing many new products from what they brought up in this meeting.