Apple Inc. opened its first development centre in India to work on Apple Maps, the company’s digital maps and navigation service.
The company’s servers will be located in the U.S. but technical and support services would be provided in Hyderabad. It will work out of an existing software hub that is part of a special economic zone.
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“The talent here in the local area is incredible and we are looking forward to expanding our relationships and introducing more universities and partners to our platforms as we scale our operations,” said Tim Cook, Chief Executive, Apple who is visiting India for the first time.
Mr. Cook, who met faculty and students of a private engineering college here, said in his opening remarks that the friendship with Telangana state was lifelong.
Apple didn’t specify the amount of investment in the facility but in a statement it said the centre would accelerate development of maps and create up to 4,000 jobs.
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The Cupertino, California-based company has teamed with Noida-based RMSI, a global IT services company, to provide development expertise and software for geo-spatial services.
Mapping engineersIt chose Hyderabad to set up its map development centre as the city had the largest number of engineers in the country specialising in mapping. The National Remote Sensing Agency that processed maps and images from India’s earth observation satellites was based here. Several companies in the city offered GIS services, including spatial analysis, mapping and visualisation, content imagery and remote sensing. There were at least 50 small enterprises that supported the GIS and mapping industry. A significant amount of mapping done was used by the mobile phone industry.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his son, Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao, were present at the inaugural function .
Mr. Rama Rao urged Apple to open its own campus.