By Graham K. Rogers

A few hours ago, Tim Cook was interviewed by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg at the All ThingsD Conference. I watched a live transcript of the event unfold. This was provided by The Verge. The event was conveniently after breakfast here unlike other events in the United States that occur at unsocial hours for me.

As anyone who has been watching Apple for a while will understand, the clues are not only in what is said, but in what reamins unsaid in one of these ostensibly light-hearted events. It may be light on the surface, but the questioners have years of experience of probing, while Cook has much experience of deflecting and protecting.

Fresh from his recent appearance in front of the Senate Sub-committee on Investigations, this was bound to come into the conversation, but Cook again showed just how professional he was and repeated the same solid points he had made then. In comparison, the two senators had appeared amateurish, demanding on moral grounds that Apple pay up and look big while fawning on Cook when he was questioned. Articles from many quarters have made similar comments: fix the laws; don't make one company the whipping boy; and remember your high spending was the cause of the massive US deficit.

The first area of questioning was about Apple's apparent loss of the coolness factor. Cook deflected that with a mastery of statistics about Apple and sales; but when asked about the depressed share price (which some put down to short-selling), he repeated what he said a couple of months ago, that the price issue was frustrating. As to rivals: Apple has always had competent rivals, he said, and named Microsoft and (oddly) Dell.

Questions then moved easily to a focus on products and despite a gift question from Mossberg, Cook denied that the iPad mini was a new category but added that Apple was working on new ideas. I know it is an Apple buzzword, but "incredible" was the adjective used here. First however, Apple TV was discussed: the box device, which has now sold over 13 million.

An interesting comment from Cook was that it has "been great both for customers and very good from a learning point of view for Apple" [my italics]. When tackled about what Apple will do with a TV, Cook said, "I don't want to answer that" and declined further to answer more, but when pressed said, "There is a grand vision", which would be what we should expect from Apple.

Moving to wearable products, Cook was polite about Google Glass and suggested it could appeal to a certain markets, but added, "I think wearables is incredibly interesting. It could be a profound area." Moving on he also said that although he wears a Fuelband ("I think Nike did a great job"), there is "Nothing that's going to convince a kid that's never worn glasses or a band or a watch or whatever to wear one". My ears pricked up at this and with that simple comment, he negated all the blogging hot air on the iWatch that has been floating around for months.

Sometimes, when we respond to a question, we may answer with a metaphor that uses references we are already thinking of in another context. When asked about the well-being of Apple, Cook replied to the way in which, to gauge health, we would not rely on a single metric (such as temperature). He was replying with an eye on the market share that so many critics use as a way to report Apple's success or impending doom.

Of course a doctor would rely on other measurements, like blood pressure, sugar levels, as well as physical observations. It is this full picture of the Apple body that Cook referred to.

However, when asked about devices, as well as dismissing glasses and apparently a watch, he did not dismiss the idea of wearable technology (iFedora?), saying it was "an area that's ripe for exploration, it's ripe for us to get excited about" suggesting investigations are under way. He later added, "I think other wearable ideas could be interesting. The sensor thing is exploding." These are key comments and may well indicate Apple's thinking about this sub-set of devices.

Apple has been known to looking at healthcare - there are solutions on Macs and iOS devices already - which is not a surprise with the former CEO's poor health. This is a field in which Apple - with its synchronising systems and devices - could excel in: a personal health monitor, perhaps.

It was immediately after the questions on wearable devices that Cook was asked about market share and used the metaphor about the body measurements.

Moving on, Cook declined to answer specifics about the upcoming iOS as the WWDC is only two weeks away and, "We've got a lot of developers coming in, we owe the world to these developers." He later mentioned that "On the general topic of opening up APIs, I think you'll see us open up more in the future, but not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience."

He was diplomatic when asked about the change of regime to Jony Ive as head designer of iOS; but when asked about "Scott Forstall. Was he not collaborative?" Cook firmly closed that door with, "I don't want to talk about people who aren't there." A later comment on Apple Maps was an honest, "We screwed up there"

He also used a metaphor that Jobs had used concerning the intersection of Art and Technology: "finding magic at the intersection."

Another clue to the future appeared when asked about the development of the iPhone. Cook related the way the iPod evolved and the way that - surprising to some people - the iPod mini was axed when it was most popular. He commented, "these products all served a different person, a different type, a different need. For the phone that is the question. Are we now at a point that we need to do that?" Might we expect that at some time soon, the basic iPhone could indeed splinter into another product line?

After some other areas of discussion, the Apple cash pile came up and with it the idea of Apple acquisitions, which are about 6 or 7 a year, but announced, "Only when we have to." On the idea of large acquisitions [Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft?] there are no current targets, but Apple is not opposed to the idea.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.