Apple dead serious on India; iOS development accelerator to open

Dubai - Move a 'vote of confidence' for country's IT sector

Tim Cook went to India as a man on a mission. He would leave taking that first huge step towards accomplishing it.
On the second stop of his Asian tour, the Apple CEO announced that the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka will become home to a first-of-its-kind centre designed to support developers in creating mobile apps in India.
The technology bellwether will establish a design and development accelerator in Bengaluru, dubbed as the "Silicon Valley of India", where tens of thousands of developers in India make apps for Apple's iOS.
The initiative will provide additional and specialised support for them. It is expected to open in early 2017.
"India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world," Cook said in a statement. "With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we're giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world."
The stakes are high in Cook's visits to two of the largest economies in the world.
Before coming to India, Cook was in China, where Apple sealed a $1 billion investment in ride-hailing service - and Uber rival - Didi Chuxing, a move that he described as a way for the company to better understand the market there. Cook also met with Chinese startups.
In the Indian leg of the tour, Apple wants a sizeable bite of its market; with a population of over 1.25 billion with six million new Internet users monthly, the country is seen as a huge opportunity for tech companies - including titans Google, Microsoft and Facebook - to grow its business.
More than 100 smartphones were sold in India in 2015, and this figure is expected to leap by 25 per cent in 2016. And while Apple only has a two per cent market share, its sales rocketed 56 per cent in the first three months of the year.
The outcomes of these moves will be crucial for Apple's future as it seeks to rebound from its historic financial-figure misses in the first quarter, which included the Cupertino, California-headquartered company's first-ever fall in iPhone sales and first revenue decline in 13 years. Cook, who arrived in India late on Tuesday, is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top officials later this week.
 
'Vote of confidence'
Apple's team will work with developers on best practices, help them hone their skills and transform the design, quality and performance of their apps on the iOS platform.
Each week, Apple experts will lead briefings and provide one-on-one app reviews for developers. The facility will also provide support and guidance on Swift, Apple's intuitive programming language created to build apps for iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. Swift enables developers to write safer, more reliable code, save time and create richer app experiences. A recent report by developer placement firm Toptal shows jobs requesting Swift rose 600 per cent in 2015.
Company executives welcomed Apple's move.
"This is a huge vote of confidence in India's developer community and a tremendous opportunity to gain world-class design and development expertise," said Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal. "Apple's support will help drive growth and accelerate progress among the country's vast talent pool."
"We have worked closely with Apple to transform the Snapdeal app and offer our users the best possible experience," said Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl. "Apple's expert guidance on the interface and user experience has helped us build an app that our consumers love."
"Apple's investment in Bengaluru through its iOS development accelerator will have far-reaching effects for the area's rapidly growing and highly-talented developer community," said Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar. "The skills and training they gain through this effort will significantly improve their app design and help them reach a broader market.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com