Apple CEO Tim Cook chats with local iPhoneographers over chwee kueh at Tiong Bahru Market

By now, Tim Cook should be pretty familiar with Singapore — the Apple CEO has talked tech with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and messed around on Garageband with JJ Lin before. 

Earlier today (Dec 11), the head of the largest tech company in the world took his connection with Singaporeans even deeper, and naturally, some good ol’ local food was involved.

This morning saw Cook chatting with two of Singapore’s renowned photographers over sugar cane juice and chwee kueh at Tiong Bahru Food Centre. 

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In a surprise visit to our shores, Cook met up with professional lensmen Darren Soh and Aik Beng Chia, both of whom are diehard Apple fans who’ve used iPhones as the tools of their trade.

Soh, for one, emerged as one of the 10 global winners of Apple’s Shot on iPhone Challenge earlier this year. Chia does street photography with his iPhone camera and is officially appointed by Apple to host workshops at its flagship store at Orchard Road. 

Hosting the Apple chief over breakfast had been a huge honour for Soh, a self-admitted Mac user for the past 20 years and an iPhone fan since the release of iPhone 3GS in 2009. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/darrensohphotographer/photos/a.263296830353838/3177471895602969/[/embed]

“Aik Beng Chia and I had the amazing opportunity of hosting Apple CEO Tim Cook at Tiong Bahru Market this morning for breakfast and a quick tour,” shared the 42-year-old architectural photographer. “I also managed to give Tim a quick rundown about the architectural history of the buildings in Tiong Bahru and of course we made photos together.”

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/darrensohphotographer/photos/a.263296830353838/3177596702257155[/embed]

On his end, Cook seemed to have enjoyed the “amazing food” at Tiong Bahru, but surely the CEO made it all the way here for more than just a plate of popiah.

He’s been touring Tokyo for the last couple of days to visit Apple stores, learning how his products are being used in institutions, and meeting with developers and users, so it’s likely that he’ll be doing the same in Singapore this week. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1204671484175822848[/embed]

We’ve contacted Apple for more details. 

ilyas@asiaone.com