Apple COO Tim Cook on Android, Verizon, and more

19.01.2011

Of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), we several years ago identified China as our top priority and we put enormous energy into China, and the results of that have been absolutely staggering. To give you some numbers there... (And we look at Greater China as a region: Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.) The revenue from Greater China for Apple for last quarter was $2.6 billion, which was up 4x from the prior-year quarter. And to further, just an exclamation point beside that, we did a little over $3 billion for the entire year of fiscal year '10. So we're very proud of the team and the results that we've gotten there.

Korea has also been a very, very good market for us. We had an outstanding Q1 there, primarily driven by iPhone and iPad. And there are several other Asian countries doing extremely well. Japan is not in the segment that you're looking at, but Japan by itself, the revenue was up 83 percent year over year. And you're familiar with the Japanese economy and the growth there, to grow 83 percent on the base that we're doing, is stunning. And so we are placing more and more resource in these areas and continue to look for expansion possibilities throughout Asia.

Well, you know, that's all part of the magic of Apple. And I don't want to let anybody know our magic, because I don't want anybody copying it. What I would tell you is that in my view, Apple is doing its best work ever. That we are all very happy with product pipeline, and the team here has an unparalleled breadth and depth of talent and a culture of innovation that Steve has driven in the company, and excellence has become a habit. And so we feel very, very confident about the future of the company.