[Ravi Agrawal, Cnn New Delhi Bureau Chief:] Tim Cook has been to China eight times since he became Apple's CEO in 2011, but he hasn't visited India even once until now. India represents a major growth spot for Apple. In the last quarter Apple recorded its first decline in global sales in 13 years. India was a rare bright spot with sales up 56 percent. One reason is that India has a fast growing smartphone market. In 2010, only 100 million Indians were on the internet. In 2015, that number jumped to 300 million. Most of that growth is coming from Indians who are discovering the internet not on pcs or Macs, but on smartphones, and there is still a lot of room to grow. The world bank points out a billion Indians remain offline. That's why Apple CEO Tim Cook is bullish on India. But it's not all smooth sailing. Earlier this year, Apple sought government permission to sell refurbished iPhones to appeal to a broader section of the Indian market that permission denied. There is also the fact that while Apple has 32 of the flagship Apple stores in China, it has a grand total of zero in India. And that's because the tech giant has struggled to comply with regulations to source a certain percentage of each phone's components locally. Lots for Tim Cook to mull while he's in India. Among the people he's expected to meet are India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi has courted the support of top American CEOs as he tries to bring jobs and foreign investment to India. This is one meeting that any tech watcher would love to be a fly on the wall for. Ravi Agrawal, CNN, New Delhi.
[Newman:] Now, China's tech scene still has a long way to catch up to the likes of Apple, but a new generation of entrepreneurs is looking to change that. Now as part of "CHINA'S TECH REVOLUTION," Matt Rivers visited a state sponsored hub for company start-ups.
[Matt Rivers, Cnn Correspondent:] Playing the guitar is cool. And yet, Zhang Bohan calls himself a geek because he developed the app that helped teach him to play. The app is called "Poputar." The app is called "Poputar", think popular guitar. A series of lessons on your phone shows you what to play. The guitar that comes with it connects to the app and lights up spots where you're supposed to put your fingers. And voila, you're Jimi Hendrix. We met up with Zhang and his partner Zhao Yan in a cafE up the street from the office. Along with another partner, the trio hatched their plan back in 2014 around these tables. He says this is where people with an idea, but no money, connected friends, or resources meet up. The garage cafe, where the next big idea is just one espresso away, is an incubator where people rent small space to help launch their tech companies. It's one of forty or so on this street alone, called "Innoway", a 200-meter stretch in northwest Beijing. More than 300 start- ups call this area home. The Chinese economy is undergoing a broad transition, moving away from manufacturing and relying more now on services. In 2013, the Chinese government invested 36 million us dollars into this street, where startups dominate instead of, and say, steel. It's a sign that times are changing. Liu Wei is at the forefront of that change. He runs legend star, a company that specializes in seed investment, the first round of fundraising. In other words, he helps start-ups actually start up. He says 10 years ago, start-ups weren't big here because the investment community was very conservative. Few companies with the resources to invest in start-ups actually did so. But he says that's swiftly changing as more and more people realize that technology is the key to profits in the digital age. He thinks the startup scene here will eventually rival and perhaps surpass the success of Silicon Valley. Back at Poputar, it's an exciting time. The app just went live this week. Zhang says he's nervous but confident. Surprise, surprise, he plays guitar to alleviate stress. [on camera]: Teach me how to do this. Let's see if I can learn.
[Zhang Bohan, Poputar Developer:] Yes, My pleasure. A few admittedly terrible notes later, it does get a bit easier. I might not be a star, but Poputar is aiming become one in the ultra-competitive app world part of a growing number of Chinese start-ups hoping to strike a chord with consumers. Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.
[Newman:] Matt is clearly a braver correspondent than I. Now all companies start small. Some grow into behemoths and learn about China's tech giants and the Chinese Tech Revolution on CNNmoney.comChinatech. Now, back here in the United States, Amazon is proving that big tech still has room to grow. Company held an investor meeting today and shareholders had very little to complain about. The stock is up more than 64 percent over the past year. For years, Amazon invested at the expense of profits in cloud computing, in building its own devices and, of course, video streaming. It was all to get consumers into what it called the Amazon ecosystem. Now, the company's latest plans revolve around a little device that could bring that ecosystem into your home. CNN money Samuel Burke has more.
[Samuel Burke, Cnn Money Correspondent:] Alexa, what time is it?
[Alexa:] The time is 1:24.
[Burke:] Alexa, when's the meaning of life?
[Alexa:] The meaning of life depends on the life in question.
[Burke:] Alexa, turn the lights on. Apple has Siri. Microsoft with Cortana. Google has Now. Those voice systems live in your phone or tablets. Amazon's Alexa lives in your home. She dwells in a series of amazon devices called Echo. Wi-Fi connected speakers with a microphone always listening for you to say the wake word. Alexa amazon's making a huge push into two different market trends with this device. Artificial intelligence as well as the internet of things. Projected to be a $14 trillion market by 2022. And even though Amazon doesn't disclose sales numbers investors are bullish on this sleeper hit.
[Alexa:] Alexa, alarm off.
[Brian Blair, Co-founder, Grays Peak Capital:] What's interesting about this product is that Apple doesn't have one of these yet. There's rumor that Google is going to actually introduce theirs in the next month or so, and Apple may end up doing something like this. but this is the truly first smart home hub that we have seen that people are using, and it's getting great reviews and it really just makes sense.
[Burke:] What's unique about the Echo is you don't have to be nearby to hear you. You can be in another part of the house, or on the other side of the room and it will still pick up your voice. Alexa? Who won the Warriors game last night?
[Alexa:] Last night the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers 125-121.
[Blair:] It's making the home and the family more acquainted with everything that Amazon offers and so that's where the opportunity is.
[Burke:] Alexa, I want to hear some Coldplay songs.
[Alexa:] Shuffling Coldplay from Prime Music.
[Burke:] Just like Amazon's other hardware products, they're always trying to entice you to pay for Prime. Alexa, turn the volume up. Placing an internet connected microphone in the middle of your house may leave some with privacy concerns. Amazon says echo will only start listening once you say, "Alexa" and the light indicates this it's all ears. Though a curious reporter with "Gizmodo" asked the FBI if it had ever wiretapped with the Echo. The FBI would neither confirm or deny that to "Gizmodo." Amazon told CNN it doesn't comment on speculation. And instead of apps, Amazon says the Echo has skills. Over 1,000 of them. And services from companies like Uber, smart home devices and news updates from CNN. Alexa? Who is CNN's Samuel Burke?
[Alexa:] Sorry. I can't find the answer to the question I heard.
[Burke:] Clearly artificial intelligence still has a way to go.
[Newman:] Oh, you describe that as artificial intelligence too. Now, Samuel, you know that I'm a gadget phoebe and I'm holding a little speaker. I know. Look, look. I'm the skeptic here. You know that I'm always going to say Amazon is not at great at hardware like this. Why would this be any different?
[Burke:] They've had a hit with the Kindle. Then a huge flop with the Amazon Fire phone. And usually when I report on the internet of things, Paula, internet connected devices, a lot of times I just find that they're useless. But this is actually useful and it actually started to make sense to me, a lot of other smart devices I reported on. For instance, the smart lightbulbs and never thought what will I do with a smart lightbulb? Why connect to the phone? But now that I connected lightbulbs to the Alexa and I can just walk in the room and say, "Turn on the lights," as you just saw. It really started to make me realize why the market has that huge trillion-dollar evaluation. A lot of other stuff starts to makes sense and this product really has a lot of room to grow in I think.
[Newman:] Well, let's see what it actually does, because we're going to come right back here in a few years, Samuel, and we'll see if this gadget actually made it into people's homes.
[Burke:] It going to have our jobs, Paula.
[Newman:] If it tells me where my son's homework is, Alexa can have the job. OK.
[Burke:] She'll do the homework for you.
[Newman:] That's a good point too. Well, we'll get into that another day, Samuel. Appreciate it as always. Thanks, Samuel Burke. As fuel prices rebound, Delta says airfares may increase, surprise, surprise. We'll be back with more.