San Francisco: Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook after taking over from recently deceased co-founder Steve Jobs, made his first trip to China to expand company's smartphone market in Beijing. He met the government officials in Beijing to discuss about the same.
Cook, is no new to the China market as the country also serves as the world's largest mobile market and a key growth area for the makers of the iPhone and iPad. As the former chief operating officer, he helped set up a sprawling supply chain centered on Asia, with a heavy presence in China.
Though Apple has merely placed itself in the China market, the company is looking to expand. It now has only five stores in the country from where it sells iPhones and other products, although it does sell through more than a hundred resellers.
Apple has deals in place with China Telecom and Unicom to sell its iPhone in the country, and other major carriers - such as China Mobile - are looking to clinch deals with the California company.
Cook's visit also comes as the company wages a legal battle with a local company over the iPad trademark. The long-running dispute with Proview - a bankrupt technology company - over the ownership of the trademark is now making its way through the court system in China.