Tim Cook says that Apple chooses iPhone colours based on what Chinese customers like

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in an interview that the company uses Chinese tastes to decide on which iPhone colours to release.

Cook was interviewed by the Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek, and spoke about catering the company's products to Chinese tastes.

The gold iPhone was introduced to please Chinese customers, Cook said.

Gold is a lucky colour in China, where it's considered to be a good luck charm. Cook suggests that a major reason why Apple introduced gold iPhones, MacBooks iPads and watches is that the colour will be popular in China (not to mention the fact that Apple can charge a higher margin on the gold Apple Watch.)

The gold Apple Watch Edition sold out in less than an hour in China. The device isn't cheap - it retails for 126,800 yuan ($20,000), but still sold out in minutes.

China is arguably Apple's most important market, and it's expanding its presence in the country at a rapid pace. UBS says that China is the company's biggest iPhone market, and at the start of this year, Apple opened a store in China every week for five weeks.