Tim Cook To Speak at D10 Conference

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the opening night speaker at the D10 Conference, AllThingsD confirmed today. Taking place at the end of May (May 29-31) in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, the D10 conference, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, includes names like Zynga’s Marcus Pincus, Sean Parker, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg among the list of confirmed speakers.

Walt Mossberg and I could not be more thrilled to announce that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, will be the opening-night speaker at our 10th D: All Things Digital conference.

It will be Cook’s first appearance at D, as well as his first time being onstage at an event not run by Apple or for investors since he was named CEO last August.

AllThingsD’s “D” conferences saw a number of important speakers sharing their views on the world of technology on stage. As AllThingsD describes it, one of D’s greatest strengths is the focus on unscripted conversations:

D is different from other conferences: no canned speeches, no marketing pitches, and no bull. Instead, creators and executive producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher put the industry’s top players to the test during unscripted conversations about the impact digital technology will have on our lives now and in the future. The results are unprecedented glimpses into the ideas and strategies of the industry’s most creative thinkers.

In Apple’s case, Steve Jobs made a series of appearances at D over the years, including one at D8 two years ago, where he famously discussed Apple’s stance on Flash, the lost iPhone 4 prototype, Apple’s internal culture, and more. The D10 conference will certainly be a good opportunity for Tim Cook to calmly and publicly go on the record about recent controversies and debates such as the one about China workers at Foxconn, the dividend, or more simply, the direction where Apple is heading.

In February, Tim Cook also spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference.