Rumors swirling on Apple's next projects are not affecting CEO Tim Cook's vision for sectors that need immediate growth, and Cook has outlined a few of these sectors in an interview.

The iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch are all going to be highly relevant in the next few years, but the three areas Cook is looking to for expansion are actually services and frameworks in the form of CarPlay, HomeKit and HealthKit.

Like Us on Facebook

Apple is looking towards fitting CarPlay into as many models as possible. Cook already announced over 40 models are coming next year and every single top automotive manufacturer is on-board with the platform.

This could be a detour for Apple before it launches its own electric car. Reports say Apple is hiring like crazy in the automotive, battery and software divisions to grab all the available talent for the project.

There are even rumors Apple is looking into an acquisition of Tesla Motors -- Elon Musk's electric car company -- although there would be serious issues on both sides if this were to happen.

Smart home is another area Cook wants to see improvements in the next few years, hoping that HomeKit will become the primary platform. The issue right now is Google's own smart home platform -- 'Works With Nest' -- is gathering a lot more steam.

Part of the reason is Nest is a supplier of smart home products, immediately winning over the smart home companies that want to know the platform is safe and easy to use, unlike Apple who currently have no smart home products.

Cook might be looking into launching a few smart home products under the Apple brand but right now, HomeKit looks to be the secondary platform to Works With Nest.

The final area is health, through HealthKit, ResearchKit and the Health app. Apple is clearly trying to one up a lot of Google's efforts in the health rin, through Calico, Nest and 23andMe.

Cook didn't discuss internet TV, electric cars or any other potential markets, but we're sure in the next few years these will become prominent talking points when Cook is interviewed.

TagsTim Cook, CarPlay, HomeKit, HealthKit, iPhone, Apple Watch