Apple CEO Tim Cook makes surprise Toronto visit

On Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook spent the day in Toronto.

The surprise trip marked Cook’s first visit to Canada as CEO of Apple, and the first time an Apple CEO has visited the country since Steve Jobs came here in the late 1980s.

By all accounts, it was a whirlwind day in which the tech executive had a jam packed schedule that saw him travelling across the city’s downtown core.

Cook started his day with a visit to the Eaton Centre, the city’s busiest shopping mall. There he went to the mall’s Apple Store to take part in workshop where Grade 7 students from Scarborough learned how to program robots to dance using the company’s Swift programming language.

The following day, Cook also visited a class of fourth year programming students at Sheridan College. Like their Grade 7 counterparts, the Sheridan College students were learning how to program with Swift.

Congrats and best of luck to these year 4 students at @SheridanCollege, kicking off their app development projects built with Swift. / Félicitations et bonne chance à ces étudiants de 4e année du @SheridanCollege, qui lancent leurs projets de développement d’app avec Swift. pic.twitter.com/2oqrpe9I18

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 23, 2018

While at the Eaton Centre, friend of the SyrupCast and freelance tech journalist Josh McConnell interviewed Cook. Speaking to Canada’s app development ecosystem, Cook told McConnell, “Canada is an extremely important market for us. We have a great team in Canada.”

He went to add: “I want to do everything I can do to highlight their innovation, their companies and their work, because it is a critical part of the entire user experience. I wanted to come say thank you.”

Just a normal Monday at the office with @tim_cook 🍎 #lifeatshopify pic.twitter.com/rYipJps4E3

— liz (@liznlbee) January 22, 2018

To that end, Cook then made his way to Shopify’s Toronto office, located near the corner of King and Spadina. At Shopify, he met the company’s CEO, Tobias ‘Tobi’ Lütke.

In a tweet sent from his official Twitter account, Cook thanked Lütke, in both English and French, for showing him what Shopify is doing with augmented and virtual reality. While Apple was slow to publicly embrace VR and AR, Cook has been bullish on the latter technology for a while.

For instance, during the company’s Q4 2017 earnings call, Cook said, “I view AR as profound. Not today, not the app you’ll see on the App Store today, but what it will be, what it can be, I think it’s profound, and think Apple is in a really unique position to lead in this area.”

Thanks @tobi and @Shopify for showing me your latest work with AR and VR. Great to be back in Canada! / Merci @tobi et @Shopify de m’avoir montré votre plus récent travail en RA et en RV. Content d’être de retour au Canada! pic.twitter.com/0scTP3PsBb

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 22, 2018

After his visit to Shopify, Cook met Oshawa-born R&B artist Daniel Caesar.

The 22-year-old is nominated in two categories at the upcoming 2017 Grammy Awards — Best R&B Performance and Best R&B. If you need an introduction to Caesar, look no further than his incredible duet with Chance the Rapper, “First World Problems.”

We got to chop it up with #TimCook today I was very shook but also very honoured. + shoutout @apple for the new gear 🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/vfIfsgf6mS

— Daniel Caesar (@DanielCaesar) January 22, 2018

Of course, at almost every stop, Cook was asked to take a selfie with those with whom he met. If Twitter is any indication, he was a good sport throughout.

Had a great written-exclusive interview with a CEO today in Toronto. I’m not usually one for selfies but thought I’d make an exception. Story coming this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/AsByk2ANnB

— Josh McConnell (@joshmcconnell) January 22, 2018

To finish his day, Cook went to the Air Canada Centre to watch the Maple Leafs play the Colorado Avalanche. The team, unfortunately, lost the game four to two.

Thanks @MapleLeafs and @RealKyper for an exciting night of hockey! Tough Loss. #GoLeafsGo / Merci aux @MapleLeafs et à @RealKyper pour une soirée de hockey enlevante! Ce n’est que partie remise. #GoLeafsGo pic.twitter.com/tYdqQH1RAo

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 23, 2018

At the end of it all, Cook thanked the city, saying in a tweet, “Thank you, Toronto, for showing me your culture, your passion, and your creativity! Hope to see you again soon.” In short, it looks like the CEO had a pleasant trip to Toronto.

Thank you, Toronto, for showing me your culture, your passion, and your creativity! Hope to see you again soon. / Merci, Toronto, de m’avoir montré ta culture, ta passion et ta créativité. À bientôt, j’espère. pic.twitter.com/YBwFJSZuXx

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) January 23, 2018

Back in December, Apple’s CEO also had kind words to describe his meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Fortune Global Forum in China.

Header and inline image courtesy of Apple.

Source: Canadian Press, Twitter (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)