Apple boss Tim Cook paid a spontaneous visit to China and attended a gaming event in an Apple store. Cook’s surprising appearance is primarily a kind of PR campaign – also because iPhone sales in China are weakening.
Tim Cook himself stopped by an event at an Apple Store in the city of Chengdu yesterday, where he met young users of the game Honor of Kings, developed by the Chinese Internet company Tencent. Cook later explained on the Chinese micro-blogging service Weibo that he felt an overwhelming energy.
Speaking to China’s state-run newspaper China Daily, Cook said that although Honor of Kings began in Chengdu, it has now become a global app store phenomenon. The report also said that Cook hopes Chinese developers can repeat such success with software for the Apple Vision Pro VR headset, expected in early 2024.
Apple also relies on production in China for Vision Pro. In addition, Apple has already set up a team of developers for the Vision Pro headset in Shanghai. Cook’s current visit is primarily intended to be a kind of diplomatic trip. According to China Daily, Cook distributed, among other things, donations to a foundation for rural development worth the equivalent of around 3.2 million euros.
Cook also has various appointments at schools and universities, where he allegedly wants to promote programs to train programmers and IT education in the lower grades. Of course, Cook is on a big feel-good tour in China for a reason.
Recently there had been several tensions between China and the USA, in which Apple and the iPhone were also involved. On the one hand, sales of last year’s iPhone 14 models and the new iPhone 15 are currently weakening significantly due to the difficult economic situation in the country.
On the other hand, just a few weeks ago, the Chinese government ordered employees from various agencies of all sizes to stop using iPhones in their workplaces, citing alleged security problems that could endanger China’s national security.
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