New Delhi

US tech giant Apple Inc on Wednesday announced setting up a software laboratory in Bengaluru to support startups and developers working on the company’s iOS platform as its Chief Executive Tim Cook began his maiden visit to India.

Cook, who arrived in Mumbai late last night, is also slated to unveil a development center for maps in Hyderabad tomorrow. His four-day tour of India may also feature a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

The app design and development accelerator or laboratory will open in Bengaluru in early 2017, Apple said in a statement.

The company, however, did not disclose the investments.

Apple, which is facing slagging sales in the US and Europe, is pushing for opening retail stores in India.

Apple, which has a network of 33 stores in China, is seeking to import and sell refurbished iPhones in India but this proposal is facing opposition from authorities.

Cook had in a recent earnings call stated that he viewed “India as where China was maybe seven to 10 years ago from that point of view, and I think there’s a really great opportunity there.”

India is world’s third-largest smartphone market with over 100 million smartphones sold last year. This is projected to grow 25 per cent this year.

But Apple’s iPhone has only a 2 per cent market share.

“The company will establish a design and development accelerator in Bengaluru, the home of India’s startup scene.

Tens of thousands of developers in India make apps for iOS (foundation for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). This initiative will provide additional, specialised support for them,” Apple said in a statement.

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, it added.

“India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world. With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we are giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world,” Cook said.

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.

As part of his visit, Cook is expected to meet government officials and key industry executives from telecom firms to discuss matters like manufacturing and expansion of network in the country.

The Apple CEO’s visit comes at a time when the US-based firm is focusing on new growth markets like India after posting its first-ever decline in iPhone sales.

In an interview earlier this month, Cook had said Apple sees a “huge market potential” for its products in India and that it is “really putting energy” in the country.

Apple has also sent in a proposal to the Indian government for selling refurbished phones in India. However, no official call has been taken.

Apple to open development centre in Hyderabad tomorrow

Hyderabad

Apple CEO Tim Cook will inaugurate its development centre here tomorrow in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The California-based technology giant, which manufactures popular gadgets iPhone and iPad, had taken about 1.5 lakh sq ft area on lease in a building owned by real estate giant Tishman Speyer at Nanakramguda here.

“Chief Minister KCR and Tim Cook will inaugurate the facility tomorrow. State IT Minister K T Ramarao will also be present during the function,” sources said.

Apple may use the facility as mapping centre for its applications, they added.

A spokesperson of Apple said the entire event will be kept as a private affair and media will not be allowed.

Cook, who arrived in the country last night, is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this week.

Tim Cook hobnobs with corporates, app developers, Bollywood

Mumbai

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is on his maiden five-day visit to the country, today met the honchos of India Inc, leading bankers and the Bollywood royalty, and will inaugurate tomorrow a development centre in Hyderabad as the tech giant seeks to bolster India presence.

Cook met Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, TCS managing director N Chandrasekaran and Vodafone chief executive Sunil Sood at the Taj Hotel and held a meeting with ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar at the bank’s headquarters.

The Apple CEO, who landed in the city late last night on a private jet from Beijing and is staying in a large suite at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace, began his India sojourn on a religious note by paying a visit to the famed Siddhivinayak Temple in the heart of the mega-polis.

At the Siddhivinayak Temple, located at Prabhadevi area of south Central Mumbai, he also chanced up on Mukesh Ambani’s elder son Anant Ambani.

Interestingly, the media was kept away from all these engagements.

Cook walked-in into the ICICI Bank Towers in the Bandra Kurla Complex business district here and spent over an hour at the bank, and met its managing director and chief executive Kochhar and executive directors at the closed-door meeting, sources said.

ICICI Bank was among the first to introduce the banking application on the Apple Watch, even before the gadget got launched in the country. Over the past few years, it has also introduced a slew of other initiatives on the digital front, including a digital wallet, just like the ‘Apple Pay’ by the tech giant.

While Cook reportedly had lunch at the Mukesh Ambani’s billion-dollar residence Antilla, even though the RIL chairman is away in the US, he will dine with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan at his sea-facing residence, Mannat, in Bandra.

At the last leg of his five-day visit, Cook is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, before winding up his visit, and likely to discuss issues pertaining to opening Apple Stores. In the Capital, he is also slated to meet Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal.

Cook also met four app developers and understood their applications in the city.

“Great to hear from some of India’s top iOS developers today. Innovative apps and many ideas for the future!” Cook tweeted in the evening.

Cook will leave for Bangalore and Hyderabad tomorrow.

Apple will set up an app design and development centre in Bengaluru to support developers in India creating innovative mobile apps for its iOS platform.

Cook will also inaugurate its development facility to be used as a mapping centre in Hyderabad tomorrow in the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao

PTI

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