How Apple’s Tim Cook struck $1bn Didi app deal in 22 days

The tie-up between Apple and Chinese car-hailing app Didi started off with a joke.

Didi president Jean Liu said yesterday that talks began less than a month ago, when she stopped by to see Tim Cook, at Apple headquarters, in Cupertino, California.

Any company named after a fruit “could achieve something big”, she jested during the April 20 meeting. Didi’s legal name, Xiaoju Kuaizhi, means ‘little orange’, she explained.