Apple CEO lauds vibrant Chinese creators

China has one of the most vibrant developer communities in the world, and the creativity and passion of the nation's developers for using technology to enrich people's lives are deeply impressive, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an online interview with China Daily.

Cook's praise highlights that China is not only a big market and a manufacturing powerhouse for Apple's consumer electronics, but also a major source of innovation for the company, experts said.

Boasting a growing number of well-educated and creative young people, China will be of greater appeal to global tech giants in the future, the experts said.

Cook said that when the company created the App Store, no one could have guessed there would be 5 million registered Chinese developers within its iPhone ecosystem.

"It just shows the creativity and vibrancy of the app economy. Chinese developers have always been at the cutting edge. And I think that will continue to grow," Cook said.

The senior executive particularly highlighted the performance of small developers in China, which have seen their revenues in the App Store almost double in just over two years.

Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School, said Chinese developer teams, whether large or small, are setting their sights on the global stage for growth opportunities.

Liang Yilun, co-founder of Miidii Tech, a Chinese developer team of five people, said users from 160 countries and regions have paid for the 10 apps that the team developed. "For one of our apps, 70 percent of the downloads and revenue came from foreign market users."

Cook said during the online interview, which was conducted last week on the sidelines of Apple's 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference, held in Cupertino, California, that he is excited about the potential of augmented reality.

"Despite that we're still in the very early innings of how this technology will evolve, I couldn't be more excited about the opportunities we've seen in this space," he said.

Currently, all eyes are on Apple to see when the company will unveil its first AR product.

Now global consumers are eager to know what the next big thing in technology will be, with many placing high hopes on AR.

Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said China has advantages in market, technology and talent, and its innovation-driven development strategy will help the nation become more important to the growth of global tech giants such as Apple.