{"id":23071,"date":"2026-09-05T21:09:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T20:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/?p=23071"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T21:00:36","slug":"pikachu-pays-a-surprise-visit-to-apple-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/05\/pikachu-pays-a-surprise-visit-to-apple-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Pikachu Pays A Surprise Visit to Apple Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pikachu has made an unexpected appearance at Apple Park, meeting Apple CEO John Ternus, former CEO Tim Cook and The Pok\u00e9mon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, in one of Apple\u2019s more unusual campus visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Cook shared a short video<\/a> of the visit on August 27<\/strong>, just days before John Ternus officially became Apple\u2019s CEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The visit appeared to combine Apple\u2019s leadership transition with a discussion about possible future initiatives with the beloved yellow anime icon. Cook specifically said the day\u2019s agenda was to introduce the Pok\u00e9mon team to Ternus, talk about gaming, and \u2014 somewhat less seriously \u2014 try to keep Pikachu away from Apple Park\u2019s pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Cook, only two of those three objectives were accomplished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The video gives a playful look at Pikachu exploring Apple\u2019s Cupertino campus. The Pok\u00e9mon mascot can be seen walking around Apple Park, dancing underneath the rainbow arch and venturing into the site\u2019s orchard, where Pikachu even picks an apple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appearance is particularly notable because Ternus has now taken over as Apple\u2019s CEO<\/a>, succeeding Cook after more than a decade at the helm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A meeting about gaming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Apple and The Pok\u00e9mon Company have not announced a new partnership or product as a result of the meeting, Cook confirmed that gaming was part of the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pok\u00e9mon Go – MacRumors<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That is particularly relevant given Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s growing presence across Apple\u2019s platforms. Pok\u00e9mon GO<\/a>, Pok\u00e9mon Trading Card Game Pocket<\/a> and Pok\u00e9mon Champions<\/a> are among the Pok\u00e9mon titles available on Apple\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pok\u00e9mon team was also in the San Francisco Bay Area for the Pok\u00e9mon World Championships<\/a>, which began on August 28, making the Apple Park visit a convenient stop during the group\u2019s time in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, however, there is no indication that the meeting represents a new Apple-Pok\u00e9mon collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Not Cook\u2019s First Encounter with Pikachu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Tim Cook has met Pikachu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cook previously encountered the Pok\u00e9mon mascot during a trip to Japan in September 2025<\/a>, around the reopening of Apple\u2019s Ginza store in Tokyo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Apple Magazine<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The latest encounter therefore feels like a continuation of an unexpectedly friendly relationship \u2014 although this time Pikachu got a full tour of Apple\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color me jealous!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pikachu has made an unexpected appearance at Apple Park, meeting Apple CEO John Ternus, former CEO Tim Cook and The Pok\u00e9mon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, in one of Apple\u2019s more unusual campus visits. Tim Cook shared a short video of the visit on August 27, just days before John Ternus officially became Apple\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2786,174,2127],"tags":[3500,4,12,3501,3537,3575,3539],"class_list":["post-23071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-app-store","category-apple-blog","category-blog","category-games-app-store","tag-app-store","tag-apple","tag-games","tag-iphone","tag-john-ternus","tag-pokemon","tag-tim-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23071"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23088,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23071\/revisions\/23088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arronhirst.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}