Apple’s Internet services chief makes bold promise to the fanbase

May 29, 2014 12:21 GMT  ·  By

Despite seemingly lagging behind competition, Apple is getting ready to unleash an army of products this year that will eclipse everything in the last 25 years. That’s the promise made by Internet Services boss Eddy Cue whilst speaking at the Code Conference yesterday.

Weighing in on Apple’s content business, Eddy Cue told interviewers to expect a true revolution in music starting this year. Thanks to the recent Beats acquisition, the company is more confident than ever that its iTunes business is on the right track.

Things like television are also on Apple’s radar, though Cue admits even they don’t know the answer to all the problems just yet, and that Apple TV is focused just on evolving for the time being. However, he could’ve simply dodged the questions with this answer. We could be in for more when the time comes later this year.

Of particular interest, Cue made a promise so bold that it should send shockwaves through the entire ecosystem. He said what Apple has prepared for this year is the best lineup he’s seen in his entire career at 1 Infinite Loop. A transcript from the interview can be found below.

“I have been working with Tim since 1997. We started the online store together. Cook is extremely thorough, he has tremendous vision. He cares tremendously about building great products. Looking at the executive team, the reason we are successful is because of our focus. We are not smart enough to do 100 great things. We want to do a few incredible things, and that hasn’t changed. We’re going to keep going down that path… Later this year, we’ve got the best product pipeline that I’ve seen in my 25 years at Apple.”

Even if Cue isn’t involved with Apple’s hardware business, being the iTunes/Internet chief and all, that claim still has to stand for something. When an Apple executive says watch out, he generally means it.

So what’s new in Apple’s pipeline this year? Well, things that are almost sure to materialize from the rumors being tossed around include iPhone 6 (possibly two variants, one with a huge 5.5-inch display), a new range of Macs, including a Retina MacBook Air and chip upgrades across the board, and a revamped Apple TV set-top box with an all-new interface and access to the 1 million+ apps on the App Store, complete with support for gamepads.

The iWatch is probably the most anticipated product of them all, but there is a bit of concern regarding Apple’s willingness to launch it this year.

Other, less likely announcements include a 13-inch iPad Pro boasting a keyboard-enabled Smart Cover, cheaper iMacs, ARM-based MacBooks, Retina displays across the entire Macintosh range, and 4K displays replacing the current Lightning Displays.

The first all-new products to be unveiled this year by Apple will actually be in the software department. Next week, the annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place between June 2-6 and will mark the introduction of Apple’s next-generation operating systems for mobile and desktop, iOS 8 and OS X 10.10.