iPhone 5s 64-bit processor "front end of a long roadmap" says Tim Cook

Apple's 4th quarter earnings report here in 2013 had mention of the best of said quarters for iPhones sold in the history of the company – but even that didn't sway one user from asking Apple CEO Tim Cook what the benefits were for the newest set of features for the iPhone 5s over the previous generation. The question itself centered on the iPhone 5s' A7 chip, the motion coprocessor, and the new Touch ID fingerprint sensor, inquiring what Apple had to say to investors that simply did not see the benefit in these features in the short run.

Speaking on behalf of the company this afternoon was Apple CEO Tim Cook. He spoke up on not just the iPhone 5s, but on the full Apple product offering today in iPhones, saying that this was just the start of something much larger.

"Everything that you mentioned is front-end of a long roadmap. First 64-bit smartphone and this is our first use of the fingerprint sensor. If you've used it, you know that it's pretty profound from both security and to purchase apps and music." – Tim Cook for Apple

Cook went on to suggest that customers understood – and are continuing to understand the benefits of the system as the launch of the iPhone 5s appears to be off to a rather healthy start for sales.

"Both of these, the most important person here is what our customers think. These new innovations on the 5s and the 5c combined led us to have our best iPhone launch ever. Sold 9 million units through the weekend. We're really off to a great start." – Tim Cook for Apple

Further questioning lead to Apple suggestion that the iPhone 4s is now the entry offering and the iPhone 5c is the mid-tier, while the high-end machine is the iPhone 5s. This suggestion leads in to Apple's aim to "grow as compared to what we were doing previously." In other words: they're thinking this structure will work out just fine.