Didi CEO Talks Apple Partnership, 'Huge' Market Potential

The $1 billion investment from Apple Inc. AAPL in Chinese ride-sharing firm Didi Chuxing could be the start of a new innings for the iPhone maker in a market whose potential is "huge." "We clicked quickly with Apple," Jean Liu, Didi Chuxing president, told on CNBC. "We both companies share similar philosophy. We both care about community. We both want to have a collaborative, inclusive company culture and that gives a lot of common ground." In China, Liu said both companies share a huge overlap in customer base as drivers and customers use iPhone or iPads a lot. Commenting on the market opportunity and Didi's scale, Liu noted: "Right now we have coverage in 400 cities in china already, we have completed 11 million rides on a daily basis. Though the number sounds so big already, it is only 1 percent penetration in China's ride market." Liu said the daily commute in China is 1.1 billion and just a 1 percent penetration is generating 11 million rides each day for Didi and the executive noted "If you talk about the market potential it is huge."