Incredible Things Coming': Here Are Some Key Points From Apple CEO's Second Public Interview

Although some may have hoped for a product announcement by Apple CEO Tim Cook at the All Things Digital tech conference Tuesday evening, they were only teased by the mention of "incredible things coming."

Cook made his second public appearance since taking the top spot of Apple after the death of Steve Jobs last year at the D10 event in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Business Insider reports he was pressed to give more information on these "things" -- many of which anticipate will be an Apple TV -- but he simply responded saying although it was a great question, he wasn't going to answer it.

At the event Cook spoke of the movement on iTV, Siri, and his late colleague and friend Steve Jobs, among other things.

Here are a few snippets of what Cook had to say on the various topics covered by cohosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

• On the passing of Steve Jobs: "It was one of the saddest days of my life when he passed away." [...] Cook explained: "At some point late last year, someone shook me and said, it's time to get on. So that sadness was replaced with this intense determination." Asked what he learned from Jobs, Cook said: "He also taught me that the joy is in the journey, and he taught all of us that life is fragile. We're not guaranteed tomorrow, so give it all you got.... I learned that focus is key—in a company and your personal life. You can only do so many things great, and you should cast aside the rest."
• FoxConn scandal (via Gizmodo): "Some people want to work a lot. They want to move and work for a year or two and then move back to their village and bring back as much money as they can. [...] Apple now has 95 percent compliance and is tracking 700,000 workers in China. I don't know anyone else [that] is doing this... We're micromanaging this."
• iTV (via Street Insider): "This is an area of intense interest for us. We are going to keep pulling the string and see where this takes us. [...]We would look not just at this area, but other areas, and ask, can we control the key technology? Can we make a significant contribution far beyond what others have done in this area? Can we make a product that we all want? … Those are all the things we would ask about any new product category."
• Siri (via Engadget's live blog): "Customers love it. But, there's more that it can do, and... we have a lot of people working on this. I think you'll be really pleased with what you see in the coming months on this. We've got some cool ideas about what Siri can do. We have a lot going on on this."

All eyes will be on Apple next month for some sort of product announcement at its June 11 World Wide Developers Conference. Apple is notorious for launching new products at its own events.

For now, here is a clip of Cook's interview last night:

The D10 conference goes through Thursday. If you're interested in staying up to date with the tech events, check out the live stream here.