Apple makes foray into ride-sharing business with $1 billion investment in China's Didi Chuxing
Friday, May 13, 2016 at 8:27AM 
By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Under pressure to find new revenue streams and segments to secure its continued success, Apple Inc. has invested $1 billion in China's largest Uber competitor Didi Chuxing. In a statement, CEO Tim Cook said that the investment allows Apple a chance to learn more about certain segments of the Chinese market, while it will also deliver a strong return.
“We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market,” Cook said. “Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well."
Apple has long been rumoured to be working on an electric car, it has amassed a large number of engineers from various automotive companies and even recently hired former Tesla VP of Engineering Chris Porritt for 'a special car project'. While Apple has been known to pour billions into R&D and even explore various products that never come to market (but the result of their research proves valuable enought to emerge elsewhere), there's a strong chance the Didi Chuxing investment can have a direct correlation to future Apple plans.
Didi Chuxing is referred to as “China’s Uber” by many. It allows users to request vehicles and taxis via their smartphone, much like Uber, which is its largest competitor in China. China is a key market for Apple and Apple's future growth. The company suffered a few blows in the country when its Books and Movies service was pulled offline due to government regulation. Apple also lost the iPhone trademark in China to a leather manufacturer.
Apple's latest results revealed a 13% drop in revenue on slower iPhone sales. Sales in China had plunged by 26%.
Source: 9to5Mac