Indian App Accelerator is great news for devs and Apple alike

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Apple supplier is increasing its ability to build masses of iPhones in India
Seriously, why aren't these app development centers everywhere?
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s brand new App Accelerator in Bengaluru, India has only been open since March this year — but already it’s paying off.

According to developers who signed up to the Accelerator, they’re finding themselves with a major advantage over other local app-makers in being shown how to incorporate Apple’s latest tech. And it’s working out pretty well for Apple, too!

“The experience at the App Accelerator has been really good; Apple really wants Indian developers to be part of the global players,” Alvin Varghese, founder of Swift India Developer Community, an unaffiliated group that focuses on building a vibrant community of Apple’s Swift developers, told Gadgets 360. “We are glad that Apple is doing this.”

Apple’s App Accelerator is free to use, and can take 500 developers a week. Sessions last between 2-4 hours, and include a focus on integrating Apple’s newest APIs, such as SiriKit. Previously, use of this newer technology would reportedly take a couple of years to start making it into Indian apps.

Local audiences

The other interesting aspect of the article (which can be read here) is that developers mention that Apple is encouraging them to focus on making apps to appeal to local audiences.

“What will work in the US or elsewhere may not work here,” one developer describes Apple’s message as. “Don’t copy any app. Try to think of your own use case and your users’ needs. Study other apps but be original.”

When Apple VP Phil Schiller first opened the Accelerator, he said it was designed to, “help the local market create apps for customers in India that better meet the needs of our growing customer base here.”

There is good reason for this: Apple is desperate to increase its market penetration in India. In a country with a population of more than 1.311 billion and a fast-growing smartphone market, Apple currently holds just 3 percent of it.

Coming up with iOS exclusive apps that will sell the iPhone to local customers is one way of growing Apple’s brand. Apple is also keen to show that it is making a positive impact on jobs in India.

This is something it has previously done by  spending $25 million on a new office complex in India, as well as a brand new local office dedicated to Apple Maps. Recently, Tim Cook told India’s prime minister that Apple has created 740,000 jobs in India through its “app economy,” and that Indian developers had created close to 100,000 apps for the App Store.

Apple hopes that this strategy will grant it better incentives for producing iPhones in the country, as well as being able to finally open the major Indian flagship retail store it has been planning for years.

Wanna be a developer?

Don’t worry if you’re a developer who’s unable to take advantage of Apple’s amazing-sounding App Accelerator in Bengaluru, however. Apple recently debuted a fully-searchable database of 100+ video sessions from this year’s WWDC 2017 event here. It’s a veritable crash course in app development!

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