Apple will open up APIs for third-party services: Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook gave signals that the company intends to make iOS more open when it comes to integrating third-party services but will tread carefully.

Speaking at the AllThingsD D11 conference, Cook said that it'll be opening up APIs in the future without affecting the customer's user experience, when Walt Mossberg of AllThingsD asked him if Apple was willing to lose its grip a little on iOS which had not seen much innovation in terms of its software keyboard or homescreen.

"On the general topic of opening up APIs, I think you'll see us open up more in the future," he said, "but not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience. So there's always a fine line to walk there, or maybe not so fine," said Cook.

Talking about Facebook Home and Home screen customization, Cook said that not all customers want it. "We think the customer pays us to make choices on their behalf. I've see some of these settings screens, and I don't think that's what customers want," he said. "Do some want it? Yes."

Kara Swisher of AllThingsD followed up and asked if the Facebook chat heads could make an appearance on iOS to which Cook responded that the company was focused on the integration between Facebook and iOS and that necessarily didn't involve chat heads. "That doesn't mean that's an end point. There's always more the companies can do. I'm not sure that's one."

Cook answered in the affirmative when asked if the company was willing to open up to third-party services. At the moment, Apple offers native sharing with Facebook and Twitter in iOS and Weather and Stock info widgets from Yahoo. Android allows sharing to third-party services and integration with third party services. Facebook's Home even replaces the Android Home screen with its own featuring updates from the network.