Apple CEO is in China, where he visited the Beijing Apple Store, according to the Japanese language site, Sina Weibo -- as reported by "TechNode" (http://macte.ch/9pG9G). He's the first head of the company to make such a trip.

The "trip might highlight that the company is attaching much more importance to the Middle Kingdom, which just overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy and was critical to Apple’s future growth, according to the company’s latest financial statement," says "TechNode."The article also adds that there’re speculations that Cook is in China to talk to China Unicom and China Telecom about introducing the company’s upcoming iPhone. Currently, both Chinese operators are partnering with Apple in iPhone 4S.

A "Bloomberg" article (http://macte.ch/9pG9G) opines that the visit may involve plans to open more Aple retail stores in China and perhaps expand the company's staff in that country. Since opening its first store in Sanlitun in 2008, Apple now has two stores in Beijing; three in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong, for a total of six.

And a "ZDNet" article (http://macte.ch/d2ruQ) proposes that Cook may be in China to meet with bosses at the Foxconn manufacturing plant, which makes iPads and iPhones, "as part of efforts to keeping vastly the Western world happy with an ongoing supply of Apple products." Or he could be in the country to deal with the ongoing battle over the iPad name with the China-based Proview Technology the article adds.