Tim Cook Punts On Apple Car Rumors, Doubles Down On Customer Privacy In 60 Minutes Profile

In a brand-new interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, Apple CEO Tim Cook doles out his thoughts on a huge number of different topics. Unfortunately, though, there really isn't that much new that's been revealed -- especially if you keep up on Apple's every move. Nonetheless, there are some snippets worth highlighting.

It feels like we've been talking about the elusive Apple car forever, and still, the company remains mum on the topic. This is despite the fact that we know that the company's been poaching top engineers from other car companies (like Tesla), that Tim Cook paid a visit to BMW's Leipzig factory, and that the company is apparently due to begin road testing testing soon. Capping it all off, Cook back in October said that the auto industry will soon experience a "massive change". Subtle!

During his 60 Minutes interview, Cook laughed at the question, "How hard is it to say Apple will be in the car business?" When prodded further, Cook quips, "One of the great things about Apple is [we] probably have more secrecy here than the CIA."

You've got to appreciate Apple sticking to its guns here, even though it seems extremely obvious that the company is in fact bound to make an announcement in the not-so-distant future.

A good portion of the interview focused on one of the hottest topics of the day: security, and privacy. Cook's quick to jump to his thoughts on things, saying: "Here's the situation is on your smartphone today, on your iPhone, there's likely health information, there's financial information. There are intimate conversations with your family, or your co-workers. There's probably business secrets and you should have the ability to protect it. And the only way we know how to do that, is to encrypt it."

But what about a "back door"? Cook once again hits the nail right on the head: "There have been people that suggest that we should have a back door. But the reality is if you put a back door in, that back door's for everybody, for good guys and bad guys."

Someone needs to get Hillary Clinton to watch this interview.