Apple marks 30 years of innovation in China

Consumers select products at an Apple store on Nanjing Road Walkway in Shanghai in December. WANG GANG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Apple Inc will beef up cooperation with Chinese suppliers to help promote the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, as the US tech company celebrates its 30 years of community, education, and innovation in China.

Isabel Ge Mahe, vice-president and managing director of Apple Greater China, said in an interview that "Over the past 30 years, Chinese suppliers have grown very fast and become an indispensable and particularly important part of our supply chain."

According to her, Apple is very happy to help promote the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, which is also a top agenda for China.

"If we want to make our products better, we must enable our employees in the supply chains to be more capable. This is a win-win relationship," she said.

"As we've grown here in China, we've helped to connect people and drive creativity. And as we look to the future, the possibilities for innovation know no bounds," she added.

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, also said in a statement on Friday that "For 30 years, we've been proud to serve people across China, both by sharing our products and services with our customers and by giving back to the communities we're part of."

"We will continue to do our part to enrich the lives of our customers in China, to help them connect with one another and reach their full creative potential, and we will do it all while leaving the world better than we found it," Cook said.

Since its launch in 2008, Apple's App Store has offered developers more opportunities, creating millions of jobs across China through the iOS app economy. In 2022 alone, China accounted for almost 4 trillion yuan ($570 billion) in billings and sales facilitated by the App Store ecosystem, according to a study by economists at the market research company Analysis Group.

During 2019 to 2022, the size of the App Store ecosystem doubled in China, with small developers, in particular, experiencing a 59 percent increase in earnings between 2020 and 2022. Additionally, 23 percent of the thousands of new developers and entrepreneurs from all over the world who joined the App Store in 2022 came from China.