Tim Cook talks R&D, future collaboration with Japan’s prime minister

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Tim Cook and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must be talking about the Note 7.
Photo: Sourikantei/Facebook

Apple CEO Tim Cook made a pit stop Friday at the office of Japan’s prime minister to talk about Apple’s growth in the country.

Cook told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Apple’s new R&D facility in Yokohama will be completed by December, well ahead of the projected date of March 2017. Apple says it hopes the new R&D facility near Tokyo will help it forge more local partnerships to source parts for future Apple products.

[contextly_auto_sidebar] “We talked about the future and doing great things together,” Tim Cook told reporters after his meeting, which came during a weeklong tour of Asia. “I shared with prime minister Abe our love for Japan and how important the country is to Apple.”

Afterward, the Apple CEO went to the railway to get a preview of what it will be like for iPhone owners to use Apple Pay when riding the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are Apple’s first devices to support the FeliCA NFC technology standard that is used to make more than 160 million transactions a day across Japan.

Cook also stopped by Nintendo headquarters to play the company’s hotly anticipated game Mario Run. Nintendo demoed the upcoming iOS game during the iPhone 7 keynote last month. iOS users will be able to download it later this year.

https://mobile.twitter.com/tim_cook/status/786379589832601600

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