“Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook on Wednesday in Beijing briefed a small group of Chinese media and The Wall Street Journal on Apple’s new agreement to sell iPhones through China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier,” Paul Mozur reports for The Wall Street Journal.
Select excerpts of Cook’s response to questions about key issues:
Cook: I’ve always thought it was important for an individual and a company to have a North Star, something that doesn’t change. Many many things can change but the North Star should be clear, and for Apple that’s always been making the best products in the world. That’s our strategy and that’s not changing today or tomorrow or the next day or the next year.
Q: What do you think of China Mobile as a partner?
Cook: We saw a company in China Mobile that was unlike any other company we had ever dealt with, that had enormous skill and enormous size and enormous scale and enormous talent, and so those discussions laid a great foundation. I can tell you that from my point of view, every meeting that occurred between 2008 and today was a good meeting. There were some great meetings, but all meetings were at least good, because we left with a better understanding of one another. Great relationships are not built on always agreeing, they’re built on mutual respect, and they’re built on trying to see the issue from the other lens and I think the time that we spent in allowing that to occur will be great for both companies, and more importantly for the customers that we both serve.
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