It’s now official that technology giant, Apple is opening a development centre in Hyderabad.
In January, the Cupertino-based company announced it will open a centre for developing apps in the southern Italian city of Naples, a move politicians welcomed as an opportunity to stimulate an economically depressed region. The centre aims to train the next generation of app developers. The company also said that it will also expand the programme to other countries around the world.
Confirming this, the company said in a statement – We’ve been investing to expand our operations in India and are thrilled to have passionate customers and a vibrant developer community across the country. We are looking forward to opening a new development office in Hyderabad that will be home to over 150 Apple employees supporting maps development. The office will also have space for many contractors who will support our ambitious efforts locally.
Apple is also set to bring its own-branded stores to come to India. It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro. The confirmation for this recently came from none other than the company’s CEO Tim Cook. At a recent town hall with Apple executives, Cook reportedly said that Apple is in early preparations to bring its retail stores to the country. Apple, will have to submit a fresh application for opening single brand retail stores in the country, as certain gaps have been found in the initial proposal.
The maker of popular iPad and iPhone devices recently gave a proposal regarding this to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). However, DIPP has reportedly found some gaps in the company’s initial proposals and has asked them to submit a fresh application, seeking more information on their proposal for further processing. The company sells its products through Apple-owned retail stores in countries, including China, Germany, the US, the UK and France.