Tim Cook Visited Headquarters of Bytedance in Beijing
Heads of two giant tech companies met in Beijing.
Tim Cook swung by the headquarters of Bytedance Thursday, tasting life of Internet celebrity on the live-streaming app TikTok with Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming and other creators.
Cook told 36Kr that he enjoyed short videos, as they offered rich feelings with visualization and music that people choose to add.
Tiktok joined Apple Music partnership in August, allowing Chinese users with full access to Apple’s music library. It ranked top in today’s China App Store’s free app list.
This was not the two’s first meeting. In 2016, Zhang, like many other Chinese software developers, were on a discussing session with Cook in a Beijing Apple store.
Meetings with Chinese developers and business partners on Cook’s China trip seem to have grown into a routine for the past years. In March 2017, Cook visited the headquarters of the bike-sharing company Ofo.
Before meeting Zhang, Cook visited the Confucian temple with founders of Xi Chuangzhu, an app that updates users daily with traditional Chinese poetry verses.
“Using advanced technology to introduce traditional culture is amazing. Only when we learned about the past and history, can we truly understand ourselves,” said Cook in a Tencent report. “Traditional culture is fading, and I am happy to see people use Apple devices and technologies to restore it.”
The founder Liu Zhipeng created the app out of personal interests in traditional Chinese poetry. Its downloads surged when recommended by the App Store.
“Apple and App Store changed our career path. It gave us courage and confidence to promote traditional culture, ” said Qu Zhangcai, co-founder of Xi Chuangzhu.
SEE ALSO: Interlude in Tim Cook’s Shanghai Visit
Cook’s China trip started on Oct, 8. in Shanghai. After attending a series of events in Shanghai including negotiations with local governments and offline interactions with Apple fans, he came to Beijing in two days.
Cook posted on Sina Weibo with his own iPhone XS Max, commenting that Chaoyang Future School, a high school of Peking University he visited in Beijing, is a true “model school.”
“Thank you, Chaoyang Future School, for an eye-opening visit today! I’m incredibly impressed by the talent and passion of your students, teachers and staff,” said Cook.
According to Cook, the School is also one of the first schools in China that adopted Apple’s “Everyone Can Create” curriculum launched in March. The curriculum enables teachers of all subjects to use more innovative teaching methods with iPad and its software.
Apple has always kept an eye on the education in China. In Dec, 2017, Cook visited a Shanghai elementary school, amazed by the iPad-assisted teaching model.
