Tim Cook: I love China, My Sister-in-Law is Chinese and I’ve Met with China Mobile

TheTechStorm has spotted this interview by Apple’s CEO Tim Cook with Sina Technology –  the technology-related news section of Sina.com, in which he revealed that Apple is working hard behind the seen to improve the approval process in China.

According to the report, Tim Cook stated that Apple had an incredible year in 2012, he said the company updated almost all product lines, launching the iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPad, MacBook Pro and iMac, and many other products. Cook highlighted that all of the products were well received by consumers around the world. He also pointed out that Apple has a very strong iOS eco-system, with over 700,000 application in the AppStore and over 40 billion downloads to date.

When asked about future products, Cook stated that Apple will continue to innovate and he is very happy with what he sees in Apple’s Research and Development department.

“I cannot talk about the current product roadmap, but can reveal, I am very excited about the products in the R & D Directions, at Apple Innovation is never scarce, I am satisfied with Apple’s achievements,” Cook states. “Apples is the only integrated software, hardware and server company, our excellent products pushed up consumer expectations, but we have higher expectations within. ”

Cook also took the time to lavish praise on China, pointing out that China is Apple most important market and is currently Apple’s second largest market. He feel it would only be a matter of time before China takes over as Apple’s largest market.

Here is what Tim Cook had to say about his love for  China (some paraphrasing after translation to improve understanding):

China has always been Apple’s most important market, is now our second largest market, I am convinced that in the near future, China will become Apple’s largest market in the coming years, Apple has launched localized products for the Chinese market. Apple already has 11 stores in the Greater China region, as well as many of our distributors in China, we will continue to expand the number of outlets to 25.

..I visited at least 20 times, and I remember the first time was in 1996, when I was not at Apple. Over the years, I have witnessed the tremendous changes in China, a country has a huge dynamic, I love Chinese culture and have very deep feelings, my sister-in-law is Chinese.

I very much hope that mainland China can become the first listing of Apple’s new areas, but our products in the Chinese market need prior approval, we have been working hard with the approval process hope that as much as possible to shorten the time to market of the Chinese market and other markets is poor, which has become one of my primary task.

Tim Cook on partners in China:

Apple has many partners in China have close cooperation with Sina, Youku, Baidu, the past few days, I also visited the partner of China Unicom, China Telecom, China Mobile, I hold very deep respect, but I cannot reveal the possibilities for cooperation.

Tim Cook on Labor issues in Apple’s supply chain:

Apple never do public relations activities for the public image, all we have done in order to improve the people that produce Apple products. Apple has a very strict vendor standards, any illegal behavior guidelines about the Foxconn labor standards of the the supplier, we will stop the cooperation not just Foxconn. On the other hand, raise wages and improve the working environment is just part of what we do, we believe that education can bring true equality of opportunity, that produce Apple products employees, we will provide them with a variety of learning and training courses, and encourage them to language skills.

Source:  Sina Tech (Chinese)