In an interview this week, Apple's Chief Financial Luca Maestri addressed questions regarding Apple's research spending, a possible import tax as part of a larger reform package, and the new Apple Headquarters as tourist attraction.

Maestri spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Tuesday, where he commented at some length about Apple research and development, saying that with a wider product portfolio, comes a larger R&D obligation to support those products. However, a good portion of the budget comes from developing solutions that other companies might have to buy elsewhere.

Cash repatriation, and tax reform

Apple is also possibly facing a big decision, regarding if it wants to manufacture future products in the U.S., and if so, how many. As part of a cohesive tax reform package including cash hoard repatriation regulations, President Donald Trump is proposing new tariffs, attempting to encourage businesses to migrate manufacturing back to the U.S.

Apple Music as part of the whole

"When you combine our download model with our streaming service, which comes from Beats acquisition, [Apple Music] is clearly gaining traction. With the combination of these two businesses, we are clearly the number one in music," Maestri said. "We've got a long association with music and it's one of the most important use cases for customers on our devices. We really want to provide the best popular offering and we think we're actually doing that."

Wearables as the future

Maestri spoke bullishly on Apple's wearables segment, and grouped in the AirPods, Beats, and Apple Watch in amongst them. The CFO feels that wearable technology will see a lot of interest from Apple in the future.

Apple HQ as tourist attraction

"The new campus I really think is going to be come a national landmark. I think there's going to be a lot of interest from tourists, and we need to figure out how to manage that," Maestri said. "This is really Steve's vision for the employees. We think it's going to be a great place for our employees to innovate for many, many years to come."

Source: appleinsider