Apple is not exactly hurting for cash; Cupertino revealed last month that it's sitting on approximately $97.6 billion. But rather than burning those funds on acquisitions, half-baked technology, or iPads for all, Apple chief Tim Cook insisted Tuesday that the company is very practical about its money.
"We spend our money like it's our last penny," Cook said at Tuesday's Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. "We're judicious, we're deliberate."
Apple shareholders "don't want us to act like we're rich," Cook continued. "That may sound bizarre, but it's the truth."
That being said, Apple isn't just lounging in piles of gold coins Scrooge McDuck-style. Cook said Apple has spent billions on its supply chain, acquisitions, intellectual property (sorry, Samsung), infrastructure, and retail stores.
"But yes, we still have a lot [of money]," Cook conceded.
So what is Apple going to do with all this cash? "It is being discussed more now and in greater detail," he said. "I'd be the first to admit, we have more cash than we need to run the business on a daily basis. And so we're actively discussing it. I only ask for a bit of patience so we can do this in a very deliberate way and make the best decision for the shareholders."
PCMag's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, recently suggested six things that Apple can do with its cash hoard, including investing early in new technologies and developing a new product line. That might not happen; Cook said the late Steve Jobs "drilled in all of us [that] we should stay extremely focused on a few things rather than try to do so many that we did nothing well." But it's clear that Apple has the desire the means to branch out at least a little in the years to come. How should Apple spend that cash? Let us know in the comments.
Also at Tuesday's event, meanwhile, Cook said that tablets will one day outsell PCs and defended the working conditions of the company's international suppliers, arguing that "we care about every worker."