Apple to launch design and development accelerator in India

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Apple will open an iOS App Design and Development Accelerator in Bangalore, India, early next year, the company announced today. The accelerator will provide specialized support for iOS developers in India, from design tips to programming guidance.

The accelerator will be based in Bangalore, where Microsoft Ventures also runs its accelerator. In February, 500 Startups also launched an India-focused accelerator.

This news comes during CEO Tim Cook’s first official visit to India.

Betting on local players

“India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world,” Cook said in a statement announcing the accelerator.

Cook was recently in China, where he also met with local iOS developers.

There is no word yet on the funding or staff that will be involved in the accelerator. For some context, Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator, which focuses on helping mature startups scale, has hosted 83 startups since it launched last March, and each has pulled in an average funding of US$1.08 million.

See: Microsoft Ventures’ latest batch of 12 startups has raised US$18 million

Apple’s accelerator has already received praise from Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal and Snapdeal co-founder and CEO Kunal Bahl. The company’s statement quotes Deepinder as saying, “This is a huge vote of confidence in India’s developer community and a tremendous opportunity to gain world-class design and development expertise.”

The accelerator will launch in early 2017.