Tim Cook: China most profitable for Apple

By Zhang Rui
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, October 24, 2014
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Apple CEO Tim Cook said China will be the nation which contributes greatest revenues to Apple Inc. Thursday in Beijing, during his latest tour in China.

苹果公司CEO蒂姆库克接受新浪科技专访

"We have 7,000 staff members in China and have four Apple stores in Beijing, which are the busiest retail stores in the world," he said to Sina.com.cn. on Thursday in Beijing.

"We have 7,000 staff members in China and have four Apple stores in Beijing, which are the busiest retail stores in the world," he said to Sina.com.cn. Beijing's Apple stores serve 250,000 people per week. "So we form collaboration relationship with China Mobile and China Unicom and integrate Baidu and Sina's services with Chinese characteristics into our operating system."

Cook promised they will increase investments in China in the future, "I think China is very important to Apple in every aspect," he said. "I came here frequently, and every time I came, I got excited. China will be the biggest revenue contributor to Apple, it is just a matter of time."

Tim Cook inspected a Foxconn iPhone workshop production line on Wednesday in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province, wearing work clothes and shoe covers and accompanied by a number of Henan officials and Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Taiwan tech giant Foxconn.

Cook said he was very impressed when he heard a female production line worker speak "better English than me," he laughed. But what impressed him the most was how seriously she took her job and how she was always trying to improve herself, which he said reflected the Chinese work ethic. Cook also met officials and service partners to discuss the culture, products and plans of Apple and the details of the release of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus in China.

The executive also revealed details of the furious behind-the-scenes discussion on what kind of iPhone 6 should be presented to the world. "Jonathan's (Jony Ive) team designed many prototypes and software and hardware teams would sit by the table to analyze the looks and hand feels of them. We had more than 20 prototypes and eventually we selected 2 models," he said.

"Apple hopes that we can improve iPhone in every aspect, including the brightness, contrast, reliability and color of the screen," Cook added. "It may take time, but we can release the best product."

He also revealed that Apple Watch's concept has to be fashionable. "Thanks to Jonathan, he thinks the wearable device should be reflecting people's personality and taste. Other companies couldn't understand this; some wearable glasses are very bad. Because these companies don't understand what fashion is," he said.

Burberry's former CEO Angela Ahrendts has recently joined Apple, but Cook said she was chosen for her professional talent on online store and retail store operations. But, "Design is very important to us," he added. "The design and fashion are so much together. I don't think Apple is a fashion brand now, but a good design must be fashionable. "

Cook hoped that 750,000 registered Chinese iOS developers, a number which he said keeps increasing, can play an important part in app development for Apple Watch.

Cook said there are 15 Apple retail stores in the Greater China region and he plans to expand that number to 40. In response to some criticism that Apple is not brave enough to innovate and take adventurous risks, the CEO said that, "We have released new products in September and October and release iOS 8 in June. These innovative products and services are evidence that Apple has innovative abilities which nobody should question."

He admitted that his management style is different from that of the late CEO Steve Jobs. "Jobs knew me well, so he chose me as the one who has a different style from him. Everybody's style is different, and the reason why Apple succeeds is that everybody here can just be themselves. All of our senior executives are complementarities to one another. Jobs knew well enough the importance of it. I'm the same."

Cook added, "Although we are different, all the Apple staff have one common purpose, that is, to produce the best product in the world and enrich people's life."

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