Apple CEO Tim Cook is in Paris today ahead of a meeting with the French president Emmanuel Macron at 4:15 CEST. Before that meeting happens, Cook has a full itinerary for his day and the CEO has been documenting parts of his travels on Twitter.
Cook's first Tweet noted his visitation to Eldim, a company based in Normandy that specializes in creating advanced optical metrology tools. Eldim is a component supplier of the upcoming iPhone X, providing Apple with critical components of the iPhone X's Face ID biometric security system.
Thanks to my friends at Eldim, a team of talented engineers and craftspeople helping make iPhone possible. Bravo pour votre travail! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/hEpxD3iBGf — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 9, 2017
While in Normandy, Cook visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, which honors the American lives that were lost in Europe during World War II.
At Normandy, honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice. “Think not only upon their passing. Remember the glory of their spirit.” pic.twitter.com/Unq6NXoe5y — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 9, 2017
Visite surprise de @tim_cook ! Le CEO d'@Apple a partagé un poulet rôti chez #MyLittleParis pour célébrer ses 11 applications. pic.twitter.com/6Kv1SC7OLk — MyLittleParis (@My_Little_Paris) October 9, 2017
Cook's visit to France in 2017 follows a troublesome period of months for Apple back in 2016, when the European Commission ruled that Apple received illegal state aid from Ireland and ordered the company to pay $14.5 billion in back taxes. Apple appealed the decision in December of 2016 by arguing the European Commission made "fundamental errors" in its ruling, but the Cupertino company has noted that it expects the case to continue for several years.
In the wake of these reports, Cook called the tax avoidance claims "total political crap," writing an open letter that stated Apple has become "the largest taxpayer in the world," and that the company "follows the law and we pay all the taxes we owe."
Update: Cook also visited the offices of "CoachGuitar," an app that teaches users how to play the guitar.
Très impressionné par l’expérience @CoachGuitar. Congratulations on 6M downloads! We can’t wait to see what you do next. pic.twitter.com/O7RIjusuzh — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 9, 2017
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Top Rated Comments
I swear to God, Cook could find a cure for cancer and you guys would find yet another reason to s*** on him. As an Apple stock holder, he’s doing just fine.
The sight of all those crosses and realizing the heroic lost lives they represent remind me not to be complacent about the resurgent embrace of fascist thought seeping into society today from any extreme of the political spectrum.
I can’t imagine the emotional impact visiting that site in person must have. I hope for a chance to visit it myself someday. Well done to Tim Cook for paying his respects there.
Especially as I looked next to me at my dad who managed to come back alive. Though truthfully the man who was deployed there a few months after I was born never really came back. I realized that comparing how he was in letters he wrote to my mom early in his deployment and how his personality was after he came back. But I did get someone back.
And each of those names on the Vietnam War memorial and each of those crosses in Normandy Cemetery represent not just one life lost but all the lives of all the people who loved and needed and wanted desperately for that soldier to come back to them and who had to adjust to life without them. I think that’s part of what we feel when we behold places like this: the weight of all those lives lost and all those lives changed as a result of loss.