Tim Cook Visits Beijing, Shares Ride to Apple Store Using Didi Chuxing

[MacRumors]

As planned, Apple CEO Tim Cook arrived in Beijing on Monday for his latest visit to China, where the iPhone maker has experienced a turbulent few months. Earlier today, he caught a ride using Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-sharing service that Apple just invested $1 billion in, alongside the Uber rival's president Jean Liu.

Cook meets with Liu, left, and developers at an Apple Store in Beijing (Image: CNBC)​

While an earlier report said Cook plans to meet with senior Chinese government officials to discuss a range of issues, including iBooks and iTunes Movies store closures and a recent patent dispute, the CEO has thus far met with App Store developers at an Apple Store in Beijing for a seminar hosted by Liu, per CNBC.

At the Apple store, Cook attended a seminar hosted by Didi Chuxing's President Jean Lui, also known as Liu Qing, and attended by the founders and CEOs of some of China's top app providers, including Groupon-like Meituan, picture-editing app MeituPic, news content provider Toutiao.com, culinary app DayDayCook and game developer Tap4Fun.

Cook, who shared photos of his visit on Twitter and Weibo, understands the importance of Apple maintaining a positive image in China.

"Taxi!" Caught a cab in Beijing this morning with Didi Chuxing's Jean Liu. pic.twitter.com/Sl2xnzXtNY - Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 16, 2016

Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, is Apple's second largest market by revenue after the U.S. Last month, the iPhone maker reported that sales dropped 26 percent in the region in the second quarter, primarily due to declining iPhone sales as China's smartphone market becomes increasingly saturated.

Cook has made similar visits to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials, carrier partners, and customers in both 2012 and 2014.

Article Link: Tim Cook Visits Beijing, Shares Ride to Apple Store Using Didi Chuxing

 

[SDAVE]

The beginning of the end of Apple.

Apple was never a singular product-based company.

Tim is just a numbers guy.

Steve is missed.

 

[smacrumon]

Interesting. Under Cook's CEOship, there seems to be a more outward expression of what Apple is up to, more potentially staged publicity for the social media generation. Not a judgement, but an observation. Hopefully the true surprises era isn't truely over. Anymore secret double life products ahead?

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Anyone else have a bad feeling Tim is just ending up being another John Scully.. They kinda think the same, even something as simple as the iPhone 6 & S fragmentation shows just how he thinks. It's not right, it's about simplicity Tim, zen, not profit margins and split product lines. Someone like Tim Cook can never keep Apple going the way it should be, he's a suit, not a Jobs.

 

[Johannesburg]

I wonder what VPN Tim used.

 

[smacrumon]

Anyone else have a bad feeling Tim is just ending up being another John Scully.. They kinda think the same, even something as simple as the iPhone 6 & S fragmentation shows just how he thinks it's not right, it's about simplicity Tim, zen, not profit margins and split product lines. Someone like Tim Cook can never keep Apple going the way it should be, he's a suit, not a Jobs.

I agree, more Zen. It's incredible the ground swell of longing for the past on MR forums of late.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Anyone else have a bad feeling Tim is just ending up being another John Scully.. ....

If he were a Scully, the company would have under-designed, under-marketed, but forward-thinking products.

I miss the days of Apple printers and yearly updates on all products.

Never forget the Scully years brought about the Newton (iPhone/iPod prototype device) and the QuickTake, among others.

Tim Cook brought us... an iWatch-Pod-Phone. And a ... nothing else.

 

[PJivan]

The beginning of the end of Apple.

Apple was never a singular product-based company.

Tim is just a numbers guy.

Steve is missed.

Like 4" smartphone....or mobile me or G4 cube, or Mac TV, trying to sell pixar...is really funny how people forget al the negative aspect once a person die, he definitely made jackpot but is not like Apple never miss a shot under his guidance, a mean.... like if Apple was doomed after 2011..number don't agree with you

 

[lowkey]

I miss the "where's the G5 laptop" Steve Jobs years...

 

[bushido]

Lol this tweet. It's like a Kim Kardashian tweet "oh my gosh guys look at this new bag by xy. Isn't it cute!"

*totally didn't get paid for it

 

[gpat]

Anyone else have a bad feeling Tim is just ending up being another John Scully.. They kinda think the same, even something as simple as the iPhone 6 & S fragmentation shows just how he thinks. It's not right, it's about simplicity Tim, zen, not profit margins and split product lines. Someone like Tim Cook can never keep Apple going the way it should be, he's a suit, not a Jobs.

No way. Sculley was downright awful. I'd say he's more of a Michael Spindler guy.

 

[PJivan]

Lol this tweet. It's like a Kim Kardashian tweet "oh my gosh guys look at this new bag by xy. Isn't it cute!"

*totally didn't get paid for it

No it's more like a picture of himself with an iPhone since he owns that company now....or of Mark Zuk. with an Oculus rift on it...

 

[SDAVE]

Like 4" smartphone....or mobile me or G4 cube, or Mac TV, trying to sell pixar...is really funny how people forget al the negative aspect once a person die, he definitely made jackpot but is not like Apple never miss a shot under his guidance, a mean.... like if Apple was doomed after 2011..number don't agree with you

That's not the point. Those profit margins will fall dramatically and Apple will decline as a company and/or possibly move to a backseat-type of a company, maybe moving into electric automobiles....things that other companies like Tesla are already doing very successfully.

The point is, Steve was one of those guys at the top of a huge company telling people that this sucks, or this is good, release that, etc. He knew what people needed/wanted before anyone else.

Like I said, Tim is a numbers guy. He sees numbers go up in an area and puts more into that category so they can make more money. He is Steve's protege since 1997 after all.

Apple relies 70% of their profits on iOS devices and that will decline due to democratization of mobile devices. All mobile devices look the same now and have similar functions. Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi are closing that gap as well, especially in the "Affordable premium" mobile devices.

Apple needs a new leader, Tim is, like I said, a numbers guy and wants to please the board and stockholders.

Apple, historically, did well when it broke new product lines. Some were good, some were bad. That's what kept Steve going, in my opinion. He took big risks.

The Apple Watch is not a huge risk, and I bet you that was even a project on the back burner that Steve worked on.

The decline of Mac sales and iOS sales is a sure sign of an end to an era.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

I agree, more Zen. It's incredible the ground swell of longing for the past on MR forums of late.

People are finally realizing there is no future. Tim has kept Apple going by stringing out iPhone upgrades. iPhone 7 is looking to be a disappointment. 7s might have OLED screen... and that's really the last upgrade. Apple needs a next-generation product to keep the innovation train going. IMO that is the Apple Car but unfortunately Tim Cook doesn't have the vision to rival Tesla. So this is the end of the line.

 

[John Mcgregor]

That's not the point. Those profit margins will fall dramatically and Apple will decline as a company and/or possibly move to a backseat-type of a company, maybe moving into electric automobiles....

The point is, Steve was one of those guys at the top of a huge company telling people that this sucks, or this is good, release that, etc. He knew what people needed/wanted before anyone else.

Like I said, Tim is a numbers guy. He sees numbers go up in an area and puts more into that category so they can make more money. He is Steve's protege since 1997 after all.

Apple relies 70% of their profits on iOS devices and that will decline due to democratization of mobile devices. All mobile devices look the same now and have similar functions. Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi are closing that gap as well, especially in the "Affordable premium" mobile devices.

Apple needs a new leader, Tim is, like I said, a numbers guy and wants to please the board and stockholders.

Apple, historically, did well when it broke new product lines. Some were good, some were bad. That's what kept Steve going, in my opinion. He took big risks.

The Apple Watch is not a huge risk, and I bet you that was even a project on the back burner that Steve worked on.

The decline of Mac sales and iOS sales is a sure sign of an end to an era.

Go reread the history there were more than one or two products/decissions that Jobs wanted to make only saved by other Apple employees somehow convincing jobs.

 

[Glideslope]

Tim, your prostitution of Apple nauseates me.

 

[69650]

According to Forbes Magazine, "Liu Qing is the daughter of Lenovo founder and Chinese internet technology icon Liu Chuanzhi" so she's obviously well connected in the right circles. Previously she worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years.

 

[Pbrutto]

This is a stragety I should employ....take a very successful idea of someone else's...go to China and make a "Chinese version" and strike it big!

 

[SDAVE]

Go reread the history there were more than one or two products/decissions that Jobs wanted to make only saved by other Apple employees somehow convincing jobs.

The sum is greater than its parts.

 

[coolfactor]

The beginning of the end of Apple.
Apple was never a singular product-based company.
Tim is just a numbers guy.
Steve is missed.

While I do agree, I don't think it's that simple. I believe (pray) that Apple will get back on track with quality. You know, I don't recall a single instance where iPod's were "buggy". Maybe it's because they were much simpler, single-purpose devices. Once the iPhone came along, now Apple is charged with creating the world's most advanced "do-anything" device in your pocket. It's a massive task, and I think they're doing a great job, while broadening the platforms into new markets. I still want to see OS X receive some more love, though.

I am one of those "anti-Made-in-China" people, even though it's very hard to find stuff that isn't made there, is it possible that Apple's presence in China will raise the bar for manufacturing there? Apple has done that for the global economy as a whole, instilling expectations in consumers for how digital devices should be designed — clean and simple. Now maybe the same influence on quality will be cast upon China's manufacturing industry with Apple making a foothold there? Oh, one can only hope...

 

[juanm]

Tim Cook brought us... an iWatch-Pod-Phone. And a ... nothing else.

What do you mean nothing else? Do all those fancy watch bands mean nothing to you?

 

[SDAVE]

While I do agree, I don't think it's that simple. I believe (pray) that Apple will get back on track with quality. You know, I don't recall a single instance where iPod's were "buggy". Maybe it's because they were much simpler, single-purpose devices. Once the iPhone came along, now Apple is charged with creating the world's most advanced "do-anything" device in your pocket. It's a massive task, and I think they're doing a great job, while broadening the platforms into new markets. I still want to see OS X receive some more love, though.

I am one of those "anti-Made-in-China" people, even though it's very hard to find stuff that isn't made there, is it possible that Apple's presence in China will raise the bar for manufacturing there? Apple has done that for the global economy as a whole, instilling expectations in consumers for how digital devices should be designed — clean and simple. Now maybe the same influence on quality will be cast upon China's manufacturing industry with Apple making a foothold there? Oh, one can only hope...

It's not a question of quality. Apple is still king for elegant UI and hardware design. For devices so massively produced, they are still top notch. I have noticed some drop in QC but it's not as bad as Samsung phones etc.

The problem lies within their current self-identity structure of what Apple stands for. They are just refining their old products by making it faster and thinner.

The Keynotes used to be huge events for us die-hard Apple people, and even the press. Apple always released things that were years ahead of everyone else. The original iPhone was. The unibody MacBook Pro was. These were all under Steve and if you look at the current climate, most laptops look like the unibody MacBook pro and have similar performance in the trackpad and integration with Windows (blech).

Chinese manufacturing is not that simple, actually. The quality has greatly increased ever since Apple and other American companies forced China to up their game. Now, China is one of the most prominent manufacturing staples in the world. South Korean companies like Samsung send their products to China for manufacture. Japan does it. America does it.

Chinese companies like Xiaomi are starting to design AND manufacture all in China.

The thing is, Apple needs to innovate and whip some people or else they'd be just a phone company.

Steve moved mountains, Tim moves small coffee shops.

 

[braintumor]

This is such a staged social media post... Tim is starting to act more and more like a politician

 

[pat500000]

Tim Crook, confused CEO.

 

[citysnaps]

The beginning of the end of Apple.

Apple was never a singular product-based company.

Tim is just a numbers guy.

Steve is missed.

Steve is dead. Fortunately, Tim Cook (who was Jobs' close friend, and handpicked as his successor) has been expanding Apple's business into China with its huge number of people with money to spend, that was pretty much ignored under Jobs. And, thankfully, pursuing new opportunities/technologies beyond the saturated pc and smartphone markets that now have little upward potential for dramatic growth going forward.