Buy the new iPhone 15 at the Apple store in Puerta del Sol and meet the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, at the same door of the establishment. This situation is what more than a hundred people experienced this Saturday afternoon in the most central square in Madrid, all of them aware of the presence of one of the great icons of the technology industry. “It’s a good time to test the effectiveness of the improved zoom of the new iPhone 15 Pro Max,” someone said to the crowd formed at the flagship.
Black shirt, dark pants and permanent smile. This is how the supreme leader of the most valuable company in the world presented himself to the tourists and onlookers who instantly recognized the CEO of the iPhone company. Before visiting the store tasted a stew at the Lhardy restaurant in the company of chef Dabiz Muñoz. The store employees went on a selfie hunt, minutes before the start of a Guitarricadelafuente concert in the basement of the building that a century ago was known as the Hotel París and, on whose roof, the Tio Pepe logo was displayed, bottled Andalusian sun.
The reason for the visit to Madrid responds to Cook’s personal support with the creativity and good work of the Spanish subsidiary, as well as the group’s support for the country, where it will launch a new engineering office in the Madrid capital. Thus, the executive has had time to meet with local teams, clients and even with Florentino Pérez at the Real Madrid Sports City, who presented him with a shirt with the number 1 screen printed under the name Tim. After seeing how they enterHe watched the first team, posed with the players and joked with coaches Carlo Ancelotti and Álvaro Arbeloa, both with their cell phones at the ready. He also learned first-hand about the international photography and film center EFTI, which this year has played a prominent role with the inclusion of the iPhone success story in its curriculum.
Tim Cook: “It’s great to be back in Spain in such an exciting week for Apple after the launch of the new iPhone 15”
Cook congratulated himself for returning to Madrid, five years after the last occasion, and indicated that he is “Looking forward to spending time with the dynamic community of incredibly creative developers and students, as well as with athletes and chefs recognized around the world. With the launch of the iPhone 15 range and the new Apple Watch and AirPods Pro models, it’s an exciting week for Apple,” commented the Apple CEO.
Following the boss’s visit, company sources recalled that Apple currently has more than 2,000 direct employees in Spain, 30% more than three years ago. In addition, the multinational offers different types of job opportunities in its network of stores, AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) offices and hardware engineering teams. The presence of the Cupertino giant in Spain dates back to 1985, when the company opened its first Apple Stores in La Maquinista (Barcelona) and Xanadú (Madrid) in 2010. Another 11 Apple Stores were added to the previous ones throughout the country in Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Malaga, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza.
Apple’s headquarters in Spain is located in Madrid, in the emblematic Puerta del Sol building, and the company will soon launch a new engineering office in the Spanish capital. Last year, Apple opened new offices in Barcelona focused on AIML, with a team that works to improve the user experience on all Apple devices and services.
The same sources point out that Apple’s investments in the country are reflected in growing support for Spanish developers. In this way, the Apple ecosystem facilitates more than 120,000 jobs in Spain through the successful iOS app economy, which represents an increase of more than 30% since 2019. Apps created by Spanish developers are successful around the world, and almost 90% of their income comes from users abroad from Spain. Specifically, among the success stories of Spanish apps, educational apps such as LingoKids stand out, others focused on sports and lifestyle such as the hiking app Wikiloc, and health apps such as Cori, which uses artificial intelligence to help people with diabetes, among others.
