Apple CEO spotted in Apple Store in Beijing

PanARMENIAN.Net - Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in an Apple Store in Beijing, according to reports, fueling speculation that he was there to work out deals with Chinese telecoms, Mashable says.

A blogger named STwing of Sina Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging service, recently posted a picture of Cook at the Apple Store in the Xidan area of Beijing, a.k.a. “Joy City,” according to multiple reports. The Joy City store opened the same day that Apple launched the iPhone 4 in 2010.

Apple reps could not be reached for comment on the reports.

Though it’s not clear why Cook would be in Beijing, Apple Insider cites “people familiar with the matter,” who say Cook is there to discuss Apple’s next iPhone with China Unicom and China Telecom, Apple’s two wireless service providers in that country. He may also be there to talk to China Mobile, a third carrier, according to the report.

This may not be Cook’s first visit to China; some reports said he was at Apple’s headquarters in Beijing last summer, when he was still Apple’s chief operating officer. Despite Apple’s vast manufacturing footprint in China, former CEO Steve Jobs never visited the country, according to reports.

Apple’s China manufacturing has become a big issue for Apple of late as criticism has mounted that the company has mistreated workers at manufacturing partner Foxconn. China, however, is also a huge emerging market for Apple. At least one analyst, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, believes Apple could sell as many as 40 million iPhones in that country this year.