Tidbits from Apple's shareholders meeting
CNBC was at the Apple shareholders annual meeting that took place February 23 in Cupertino, and you can read through detailed notes of the summit on its site. There were only a few official matters to discuss, and the first was whether or not the company would adopt majority voting for its board of directors, requiring a majority vote for each director to stay.
Shareholders decided to approve the measure, meaning board members would have to resign without a voting majority, but that ruling didn't matter much; all of the directors were elected with over 80 percent of the vote anyway.
Other matters voted on included asking directors to further declare any conflicts of interest, a measure allowing for shareholders to set director pay, and another measure requiring Apple to disclose any political contributions. All of those suggestions ended up failing, with just a small percentage of the vote.
Finally, Tim Cook and his fellow executives took part in a presentation and Q&A. You can read through all of the notes on CNBC, but it's worth recognizing that Cook definitely came out against Apple using its vast cash reserves to buy any type of content, whether that means picking up a record label or even buying access to sell TV shows or movies. Cook says that Apple aims to sell devices; while the board is still determining what to do with all of the cash, Apple has already spent billions on things like supply lines and components, and it will probably continue to focus on that in the future.
Cook also called Facebook a "friend" of the company and said Twitter has also had a lot of integration with Apple's products lately. So far, feedback on that integration has been good. Cook also spoke about Apple's passion for education and said while Apple does donate money and time to supporting education, the company primarily supports schools and teachers with its products and by creating services and devices to enable learning in as many places as possible. The whole event sounds like business as usual while Apple continues to roll on through 2012.
