San Francisco, Jul 19 (IANS): In yet another move to grow big in the Chinese market, Apple has appointed Isabel Ge Mahe, currently Vice President of wireless technologies at the company, as new Vice President and Managing Director of Greater China.

Reporting to CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams, she will provide leadership and coordination across Apple's China-based team.

"Apple is strongly committed to invest and grow in China, and we are thrilled that Isabel will be bringing her experience and leadership to our China team," said Cook in a statement late on Tuesday.

"She has dedicated a great deal of her time in recent years to delivering innovation for the benefit of Apple customers in China, and we look forward to making even greater contributions under her leadership," Cook added.

In China, Ge Mahe has worked closely with Apple's R&D team and carrier partners to develop new China-specific features for iPhone and iPad, including recently announced iOS 11 features.

"I'm honoured to have this opportunity to represent Apple in China and work more closely with our incredibly talented team," said Ge Mahe.

Apple, in partnership with a local data management firm, is also set to open its first data centre in China that complies with new laws that require global companies to store user data information within the country.

The data centre would help Apple take on local smartphone rivals. It would also help the tech giant offer its iOS services in a better and efficient way in the country.

The new data centre, part of a $1 billion investment by Apple, is planned in the city of Guizhou.

To boost local talent, Apple recently announced it would invest $508 million in China to build two additional Research and Development centres in Shanghai and Suzhou.

Apple gets most of its products manufactured in China and also sources its best electronics engineers from there.