Apple CEO Visits China for Retail Talks, More

Apple’s Tim Cook made his first trip to China as the company’s CEO to handle official company business. Depending on the sources, he may have been dealing with iPad trademark issues, planning new retail stores, or even working on new iPhone deals.

Tim Cook visits ChinaApple CEO Tim Cook visits China

According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Mr. Cook was in China to discuss the ongoing battle with Proview over the iPad trademark with government officials. Proview claims Apple never really purchased the rights to the name, so the multimedia tablet can’t be sold in China. Apple, however, says it bought the trademark from Proview before the iPad was ever announced.

Proview declined to say whether or not any meetings are in place with Mr. Cook.

The WSJ also said that Mr. Cook was seen at China Mobile’s headquarters, which could mean the two companies are working on an iPhone deal. If a deal really is in the works, Apple would finally have its iPhone on China’s largest cell service network.

Reuters, however, said that Mr. Cook was in China to work on expanding the company’s retail presence in the country. Currently, Apple had a store in Hong Kong and five on the China mainland.

“China is very important to us and we look forward to even greater investment and growth there,” said Apple spokesperson Carolyn Wu.

Of course, Mr. Cook could have made the trip to handle more than one issue and talk deals at the same time.