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00:00If I'm right, this is the first time Tim Cook's been to mainland China, at least since pre pandemic levels. What did he discuss with the Chinese commerce minister? It's very possible that Cook has been there multiple times, right, since the beginning of the pandemic. But in terms of one of these, I call state visits right where it's all very publicized where he's speaking publicly. The last one we do know about or we can remember is actually from 2019, right where he spoke at the same conference. Right. That economic speech, state sponsored conference. So you've seen him post pictures from Apple retail stores in Beijing. You've seen him speak at that conference. He talked about having a symbiotic relationship with China, where both have grown together over the past few decades or so. Right. In terms of that partnership there, in terms of the meetings, he discussed the regulatory matters. He discussed the supply chain. It's very important, you know, for Apple to have a positive relationship with the Chinese government. As you probably know, Apple is the unique American technology company to essentially have free reign in China. Right. They can operate much of their online services. They could sell all of their hardware products. They can operate there. About 30 retail stores, Metta, Amazon. The other big ones, they simply don't have that luxury in China. The supply chain is fascinating because that word was in the statement from the Chinese ministry in your latest podcast. You discussed this idea about longer term Apple moving its supply chain dependence from China. It doesn't make sense anymore for Apple to be so tied to one country, right? I mean, there are so many concerns in terms of U.S. and Chinese tensions, right? There's the human rights aspect. There's the communism aspect. Right. There are so many reasons why Apple may not want to do all of its business in China. But beyond that, right. There's also the factor that some of these Chinese laws and regulations over the last several years or so have created product delays, iPhone 14, prose riots at the end of last year, MacBook Air shipments in the middle of last year. Right. These are due to some of those Covid zero policies. So there's a little bit of unpredictability there and potential volatility, which could hurt Apple's underlying business, which requires shipping tens of millions of units of their latest devices. Mark, really, really quick, in your latest power newsletter, you talk about a RV. What's the main takeaway that readers should know about? Yeah. Apples mixed reality headset, first major products since the Apple Watch will be announced in June. The Worldwide Developers Conference, and that is going to be a big test for the company, right? If this could be a hit, it's still a nascent category inside the company. They believe this could play out similarly to the Apple Watch. So maybe a bit of a, you know, a dud at first, but over time become a major hit.

Apple CEO Meets With China Commerce Chief

Apple CEO Tim Cook met China's Minister of Commerce - coming at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. The US company relies on China for about 20% of overall sales and Apple’s most important products are still made mostly in China. Bloomberg Technology's Mark Gurman explains. (Source: Bloomberg)

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