Apple's Tim Cook arrives in China for a charm offensive
Apple CEO's China visit comes a month after access was blocked in the country to Apple's iTunes, Movie and iBook stores
Apple chief executive Tim Cook met Chinese app developers and used a Didi Chuxing car to visit Apple's store in the popular shopping district Wangfujing on Monday, after arriving in Beijing for a charm offensive.
Local publications Cover Media and The Paper reported that Cook attended a seminar hosted by Didi President Liu Qing at the Apple store, where he told Chinese app developers in a closed-door session that their innovative work was consistent with Apple's "spirit."
The developers were from 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 also reportedly said that government policy played an important role in developing China's digital economy, and that the California-based tech giant was keen to work with China on this.
Although the visit had not been officially confirmed by Apple, Cook was expected to visit China to woo government officials after suffering a series of setbacks in its biggest overseas markets. Reuters broke the news of his impending visit on May 6.
At its second-quarter results announcement in April, Apple revealed its first quarterly revenue drop in 13 years, on the back of a 26 per cent year-on-year fall in smartphone sales in Greater China. In the same month, Chinese regulators apparently blocked access to Apple iTunes Movies and iBooks Store.