Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits Canada for the First Time, Surprises Toronto Students

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a surprise appearance at the Eaton Centre Apple Store in Toronto today, marking the first time the leader has visited Canada since taking over at the company.

Image via @AnthonyMacriSEO

According to Reuters, Cook “surprised a class of children taking coding lessons at Apple’s Eaton Centre location, [saying] he could feel the creativity and diversity Canada has to offer as soon as he stepped off the plane.”

@tim_cook is at the Toronto Eaton centre Apple store! pic.twitter.com/3rQAKmSChV

— Anthony Neal Macri (@AnthonyMacriSEO) January 22, 2018

So Tim Cook was at Apple Eaton Centre today… pic.twitter.com/JJWxRxzRXS

— Kris Pangilinan (@KrisReports) January 22, 2018

Cook was in the city to promo Apple’s education initiative which focuses on coding education, with products like Swift Playgrounds for iPad and also Apple Teacher.

Recently, Apple expanded its “Everyone Can Code” curriculum worldwide, with Cook emphasizing the importance to “democratize coding”, which can be made possible by teaching it in schools.

According to Apple, there are over 120,000 Canadians working on apps for the App Store.

“Canada is an extremely important market for us. We have a great team in Canada,” Cook said.

“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,” he added.

Earlier today, Apple announced it had partnered with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, to support girls’ education.

Update: As expected, Cook has tweeted about his experience in Canada–in both English and French of course!

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