Adrian Weckler, technology editor for The Irish Independent, interviews Tim Cook about privacy, diversity, Chinese factories, the future of cars and why Tim is giving all his money away.

Some highlights:

Cook says that Apple is expecting “huge” sales this Christmas.

“I don’t even look at what the analysts say,” Cook says with a grin. “But I think it’s going to be a huge holiday season. We’re extremely optimistic. We shipped the Watch first in the June quarter and we sold a lot. We sold even more than that in the September quarter. And we’re looking for a big holiday season.”

And:

“We’ve recognised that the user interface with a car is not up to the expectations of our customer. And so we wanted to help the automobile manufacturers remedy that and have our customers have a seamless experience between in the car and out of the car.”

On privacy:

He says that he feels more comfortable in Europe when it comes to privacy issues than in other parts of the world, including the US.

“I do,” he says. “I think Europe is leading the world on that topic and it’s great. I feel right at home when I come to Europe and talk about privacy.”

What is it he approves of in particular? Is it the recently introduced ‘right to be forgotten’, allowing individuals to have personal information removed from search engines?

“I wouldn’t want to comment on that specific one. But I think, on a macro basis, it’s the concept that all of us should have the right to our data, how it’s used and where it’s used. I think these concepts are powerful and have never been more important as the advancements in technology have enabled many things beyond what should occur.”

And:

“I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” he wrote. “We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”

And:

“The UK government has been clear publicly that they are not seeking to weaken encryption,” says Cook. “And so I take them at their word that they would not do that. And at the moment as you know, we encrypt iMessage end-to-end and we have no backdoor. And we have no intention of changing that. Any change made would contradict the UK government’s view that they would not weaken encryption.

“And so I think that we’ll work closely with them. And I have every faith that through this process of the next year, give or take a year, that the bill will become very clear.”

Lots more to read. Solid interview.