Tim Cook’s end of year letter to Apple employees

Thanks to 9to5Mac, we have the full letter that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, sent to his employees. The letter reflects on the last year, cements the ideals of the company and looks forward to 2014.

Team,

This holiday season, tens of millions of people around the world, from all walks of life, are experiencing Apple products for the first time. Those moments of surprise and delight are magical, and they’re all made possible by your hard work. As many of us prepare to celebrate the holidays with our loved ones, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together over the past year.

First and foremost, we introduced industry-leading products in each of our major categories in 2013, showing the breadth and depth of innovation at Apple. We extended our lead in the smartphone market with iPhone 5s; launched iOS 7, an extraordinarily ambitious project; released OS X Mavericks for free to our customers; introduced the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display; and this week began shipping the Mac Pro from a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. We also marked our 50 billionth download on the App Store – a milestone no one could have predicted we would reach so quickly.

Together we’ve shown the world that innovation at Apple goes beyond our products to the way we do business and how we give back to our community. This year, Apple raised and donated tens of millions of dollars for important charities and relief efforts like Red Cross aid to typhoon victims in the Philippines, and we continue to be the largest contributor to (PRODUCT)RED, supporting the Global Fund in its fight against the spread of AIDS in Africa. Just a few weeks ago, Jony Ive led an unprecedented effort that brought money and awareness to eliminating the transmission of AIDS from mother to child.

And finally, Apple is standing up for what we believe is right. We know that equality and diversity make our company and our society stronger, so we’ve urged the U.S. Congress to support workplace protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We are also laser focused on our contribution to several environmental initiatives and we will increase our efforts even more in this area in the future.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love. I am extremely proud to stand alongside you as we put innovation to work serving humankind’s deepest values and highest aspirations. I consider myself the luckiest person in the world for the opportunity to work at this amazing company with all of you.

Happy Holidays,

Tim

Makes you feel all kinds of goo inside, right? in 2014 we as customers can look forward to a bunch of new and updated software and hardware releases such as the iWatch, iTV, iPhone 6 and a larger iPad.

We’ll be going into the ins and outs of everything we can look forward to early in the new year. It’s very exciting!

Meanwhile, it’s Christmas eve eve! We hope your holiday season is everything you guys could have wished for so far, and is set only to get better!

We wished for a kitten wearing a santa hat and drinking eggnog, as well as a bunch of stinky old iPhones, so things are going excellently!

Images courtesy of qz.com and Efunlist.com

New products coming in 2014!

GUYS GUYS GUYS!

There are still more products coming our way right from the magical world of the Apple production line! Next year! That’s like only a few tomorrows away!

A couple of days ago Tim Cook confirmed to members of the press, that Apple is definitely planning on introducing new product categories in 2014. Categories baby! That’s like, things we’ve never seen before. Woop.

According to Cook, Apple believes that it can use its skills building software, hardware, and services to create “great products” in categories that Apple does not participate in today. “We’re pretty confident about that,” said Cook.

Woop!

Things to look forward to  (probably) include the iWatch, the iTV and a little baby unicorn that makes all your dreams come true.

Probably.

Images courtesy of  Cheezburger & Playdom