Apple sets up iOS app dev center in Bengaluru, India

Apple, especially Tim Cook, has made it no secret that China and India are the newest darlings of the tech industry at large and, of course, Apple. After flying to China to deal with the iBooks and Movies blackout, Cook flew to India to help cement Apple's position in the market. In addition to Cook's first visit to the country as Apple's highest executive, it was also an occasion for Apple to announce the establishment of a Design and Development Accelerator in Bengaluru to help spur iOS app development in the country.

The foundation of the center is strategic both in its nature but also in its location. While India is already home to many tech companies as well as production plants, Bengaluru specifically enjoys the distinction of being the so-called startup seedbed of the country. Over a million of the working citizens there work in the IT sector, while almost 50% of the graduates from local universities are from IT or engineering fields.

Apple also considers India to have "one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world", right from the mouth of Tim Cook. Harnessing and further building up that mass will of course benefit iOS in general, and the iPhone and the iPad in particular. Apple expects iPhone sales to pick up exponentially as the country rolls out its first network. And with more device sales come the need for more apps, a need that India's app developers will be trained to fill.

The Accelerator will host Apple experts every week to inspire and instruct these developers on the best practices for developing iOS apps. But more than just that, the facility will even conduct one-on-one app reviews, which could help provide confidence and speed up the release of apps coming from the country. Although heavily leaning towards iOS, the center will also put forward Apple's self-made programming language, Swift, which lets developers target not just iOS but also tvOS, watchOS, and Mac OS X.

The Apple iOS App Design and Development Accelerator center is scheduled to open its doors early next year.