Hyderabad: US technology giant Apple Inc. on Thursday announced the opening of its state-of-the-art development centre in Hyderabad, India, which will focus on the development of maps for the company’s products, including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
“We are thrilled to open this new office in Hyderabad which will focus on Maps development,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
The announcement comes a day after the Apple chief revealed plans for an iOS app design and development facility in Bengaluru, as a part of his India visit.
Spread over 23,225 square metres, the LEED-certified home for the Maps team is located at the swanky new Waverock property by developer Tishman Speyer, in the famous IT Corridor of Hyderabad.
The region also houses development centres for other big US names including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
“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 platform as we scale our operations,” Cook stated.
The centre, in which Apple is believed to have initially invested $25 million (Dh91.82 million), is expected to generate 4,000 jobs and accelerate the development of Maps, which is adding new features to increase its popularity among Apple products users.
Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao hailed the Apple project.
“We are honoured Apple chose Hyderabad as a home for its Maps development office. This will create thousands of jobs here and is a testament to our proactive approach, quality infrastructure, and the excellent talent base we have in the region,” Rao said.
Apple’s Maps is used on iOS and OS X platforms of Apple, though so far most of its users have been preferring Google Maps. But the company hopes that with addition of new features to its service, including 3D views to flyover, it will attract more users on its platforms.
Apple has chosen RMSI, a global IT services company as its partner for this Maps Development Centre.
“We are experts in geospatial data and we will be hiring thousands of people from the local area support this effort,” said Anup Jindal, CEO of RMSI.
