[BEIJING] Apple boss Tim Cook on Wednesday (Mar 26) praised “the next generation of developers” during a visit to a technology hub in eastern China, as the US tech giant battles to stay relevant in the country’s vast consumer market.
The iPhone maker last year lost its status as the best-selling smartphone brand in China, but has sought to boost its ties to the country in recent months.
“Thrilled to meet the next generation of developers at Zhejiang University today,” Cook said on Wednesday in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo that included a video of him interacting with students.
The post came as Apple announced it would donate 30 million yuan (S$5.5 million) to the college to provide students with technical and business training in app development.
Based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang University is known for producing elite tech talent including Liang Wenfeng, the founder of AI startup DeepSeek.
The company stunned the world this year with a model chatbot that seemed able to match the performance of US rivals at a fraction of the cost.
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Cook met China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on the sidelines of a key development forum in Beijing on Monday, with the ministry saying they “exchanged views on Apple’s business development in China, China-US economic and trade ties and other topics”.
In February, Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba said it would supply AI technology to power Apple’s iPhones in China.
Meanwhile, Apple plans to hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) during the week of Jun 9, when it’s expected to announce redesigned iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems.
The conference will be held online, the company said on Tuesday, save for in-person keynote presentations at the beginning of that week.
Apple has been struggling to catch up with rivals in artificial intelligence (AI), though that area is not likely to be a major focus of the event. Major enhancements and improvements to the company’s AI features are not expected until later.
One of the highlights of the week will probably be the operating system redesigns coming as part of iOS 19, iPadOS 19 and macOS 16, Bloomberg News has reported. In past years, the WWDC conference has introduced major new initiatives, such as Apple Intelligence last year, the Vision Pro the year prior and the switch away from Intel in 2020. AFP, BLOOMBERG
