Apple boss replies to Chinese blogger

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple CEO Tim Cook shared his insights on innovation and sent best wishes to the Chinese people in an interview with a young Chinese blogger. He Shijie, a senior student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, published the online interview recently.

Cook insisted that there’s no one formula for innovation, but a culture of creativity and a culture of collaboration can help with it. He also noted that diversity plays an important role. “You put people together that have different skills, that look at the world differently. Maybe they’re from different places, they have different backgrounds ... and it is amazing what can come out of it.”

He says in the interview that he believed last year was the company’s “top year of innovation ever”, and added that there’s a ton of features within Apple’s devices that were developed based on Chinese consumers’ feedback, such as specific keyboards and the QR Code mode.

“In a lot of ways, 5G was energized in China because China is so far ahead in the coverage model for 5G,” Cook notes, adding: “We listen very carefully to our customers there and wind up creating things based on that which are then given to the world.”

In a lot of ways, 5G was energized in China because China is so far ahead in the coverage model for 5G.”

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Cook says that he loves “the history in China and the arts”. Last year, he visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, known as Palace Museum since the 1920s, when the palace was celebrating its 600th anniversary.

As well as history and culture, Cook is keen on collaborating with Chinese people. “If I say one thing, it’s about people. It’s meeting people. It’s meeting developers, to see what developers are working on. It’s customers, and seeing what customers do with our products,” he adds.

Cook told He that he had a good time collaborating with people, especially with Chinese students, as he also serves as the chairman of the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management.

“I’m having a great time ... meeting many of the students there. The talent in the study body is unbelievable, so it’s a real privilege,” he says.

Cook views education as the great equalizer of people, noting that Apple has designed curricula like Everyone Can Create and Everyone Can Code for students, “because we believe that coding and creativity are two of the important skills of the future’’.

Cook saw the year 2020 as a test of resilience, expressing best wishes to the Chinese people in the Year of the Ox. “I can’t wish enough happiness and health and all of those things that sometimes we take for granted, but of which we’ve been reminded how important they are in the last year,” he says.

On cooperation, Cook cites an old saying rooted both in China and the English-speaking world — we’re all in the same boat. “I do believe that. I believe we’re all in the same boat, and we can do amazing things together. We can get out of this pandemic together. There are so many things that we can do together.”