Fortune:

In an interview on Feb. 12 at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., CEO Tim Cook spoke expansively about the state of Apple, Fortune’s most admired company for nine consecutive years. He talked about how Apple behaves in a down cycle, how the company’s once-sacrosanct only-in-Cupertino mind-set is evolving, and the importance of services to Apple’s product mix. Without acknowledging its existence,

Cook also shed possibly contradictory light on Apple’s widely rumored efforts to build an iCar: He suggested that Apple ultimately may decide not to make a car at all, yet he implied that if it did, it could utilize contract manufacturers to do so, just as it does with computers and phones.

The quote everyone is pointing to in this story is Cook saying, “Yeah, I’m probably not going to do that” with regards to talking about Apple’s much-rumored car project. Cook reiterates the point the company has been making for years – they explore all kinds of technologies and possible products. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will bring them to market.

It must be killing the guys at Fortune that they didn’t do this interview after the Apple vs FBI story broke.