Apple CEO Tim Cook & Didi Chuxing's president tour Beijing Apple Store

Apple CEO Tim Cook and the president of taxi/ridesharing service Didi Chuxing, Jean Liu, visited an Apple Store in Beijing on Monday morning, just days after Apple's confirmation of a $1 billion investment into Didi.

The main purpose of Cook's visit to Beijing was for an App Store "developer activity," reported the state-controlled China Daily. The heads of several app-related firms were said to be at the gathering, and Cook later told the Daily that Chinese app developers have so far reaped over $7 billion, half of that in the last 12 months.

On the Didi Chuxing deal, Cook reportedly said that Apple made its investment because Didi "has a very great management team," and "its objective is also environmental, hoping to help reduce pollutions [sic] by making more efficient use of cars."

That could further fuel speculation that the deal is connected to Apple's electric car project, particularly if and when a self-driving model rolls off assembly lines. Apple could be hoping to sell vehicles into Didi's fleet, and ridesharing services in general are expected to make the shift to self-driving cars since they cut down on human labor costs.

Previously Cook claimed that the Didi investment happened "for a number of strategic reasons," including "a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market."

The Daily added that it was unknown whether Cook would meet with any high-level government officials during his latest Chinese trip, as rumored. In April the government shut down the local iTunes Movies and iBooks Stores, something Cook would presumably work to reverse as soon as possible.

17 Comments

mejsric 10 Years · 153 comments

About 8 years ago

Car will change the auto industry. Tesla will be the next Blackberry and Samsung will still the fast follower.

revolution 8 Years · 14 comments

What makes the most sense for Apple to do, is to buy a European Car manufacturer for strategic reasons. Something like Ferari with recognizable brand name and expertise in business. Ferari is clearly a luxury brand like iPhone. This way both internal and external design geniuses of both the companies can be tapped to create a car that everybody would love to have. Cost would be an issue requiring different models so that people can afford to buy or share!

vision33r 15 Years · 213 comments

It'll be the next biggest flop for Apple.

palegolas 19 Years · 1362 comments

AppleInsider said:

On the Didi Chuxing deal, Cook reportedly said that Apple made its investment because Didi "has a very great management team," and "its objective is also environmental, hoping to help reduce pollutions [sic] by making more efficient use of cars."

I think, frankly, that the car project is a race against time for Apple. They probably want to offer a solution for China before everyone gets wealthy enough to own a car. Traffic in China is pretty bad enough as it is. It will break down if everyone gets a car. If Apple can make it desirable not to own a car, then they're onto something huge. Then, of course, the rest of the world is an untapped potential market for this Didi/ Uber mentality.

reiszrie 11 Years · 24 comments

revolution said:

What makes the most sense for Apple to do, is to buy a European Car manufacturer for strategic reasons. Something like Ferari with recognizable brand name and expertise in business. Ferari is clearly a luxury brand like iPhone. This way both internal and external design geniuses of both the companies can be tapped to create a car that everybody would love to have. Cost would be an issue requiring different models so that people can afford to buy or share!

Ferrari has no valuable IP for electric cars hence buying Ferrari outright and not having an interest in furthering the traditional business-lines of creating supercars makes Ferrari a bad choice for acquisition, instead Apple could simply lure Pininfarina and Ferrari's designers to utilise their expertise in designing cars.