It is no secret that a slowdown in China has affected Apple. But CEO Tim Cook said he made an error on the company's conference call by not discussing China's growing middle class. "It was my error for not talking about it. I could not be more optimistic about China. I think the long-term thesis is intact," Cook said.

In an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday, Apple's CEO Tim Cook noted that the expansion of middle class occurring in China is unlike anything that has ever occurred in the history of the world, thus he remains optimistic in that region. At one point in the interview Cook was specific in believing that China's middle class could grow from 50 million people to 500 million people over the next five years.

Apple's CEO also noted that while India is going to be a mass market it could take a little time. LTE wireless service is only coming to India later in 2016 and this is where Apple services and sales can begin to gain some traction. Cook reminded us that India will be the most populous by 2022. And at present, the middle class is only about 22% - so there's a lot of growth in the middle class. It's the middle class that like to own brand names and so as their middle class grows, Apple will do better.

Once Apple is able to open their own branded flagship stores in India they'll be able to develop sales, promotions and services to strenghthen their position in that country.

You find a little more information on the Cramer interview with Apple's CEO here and here. You could find far more in-depth information from Cook in our Saturday report titled "Patently Apple's Transcript of the Opening Statement from Apple's Q2 2016 Conference Call by Tim Cook," as well as our Sunday report titled "Apple's CEO doesn't see Carl Icahn's Dark Cloud Over their business in China, he sees Growth Ahead."

During Apple's financial conference call last Tuesday, one of things that Apple's CEO emphasized was innovation. Cook stated that "I'll summarize by saying that the future of Apple is very bright. Our product pipeline has amazing innovations in store." Cook repeated that position once again during his interview today with Cramer. 

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments.