Karnataka tells Apple to adopt local software for Kannada on iPhones

Move comes even as India pushes Apple to adopt local standards

The Karnataka government has reached out to Tim Cook, chief executive of technology major Apple Inc, asking him to adopt locally built keyboard layouts and fonts for Kannada on its flagship software iOS. The move is consistent with India's push to get the world's most valuable company to comply with local standards if it wants to tap the country's massive customer base. 

India has been engaged with Apple to adopt the biometric standards for Aadhaar authentication on its flagship iPhone. It also has been asking to host a 'do not disturb' app on its app store, which will allow users to report spam calls and text messages to the telecom regulator, but with little success. 

This prompted the country’s telecom regulator to accuse Apple of digital colonisation. Apple has so far refrained from commenting publicly, and is waiting as it looks to India as a large market, which Cook says has lot of similarities to where China was several years ago. 

On Monday, the Karnataka Development Authority (KDA), a state body to promote Kannada, the local language, wrote a letter to Cook to localise mac OS and iOS in the state language. 

The chairman of the KDA S G Siddaramaiah wrote that this would help native Kannada users to use Apple products and help the company to grow its market in the state. It also asked Apple to allow its personal assistant Siri in Kannada. 

“We are receiving many concerns from Kannada computing community regarding the usability of the language in Apple. Inc systems. We have many Kannadiga software engineers who have chipped in to analyse the problem thoroughly and compiled the following concerns ,” Siddaramaiah wrote in his letter. It pointed to bugs in its existing Kannada keyboard and fonts in its software that does not allow users to create content effectively.

India is attempting to mirror China’s strategy of pushing companies to adopt local standards if they want to increase market access here. The government has already mandated that only phones that offer local language support can be sold in India from October. 

Apple is looking at India as a market which will drive future growth, and its focus comes at a time when global sales of its iPhone has begun falling in mature markets such as USA and China. The company has been trying to win over the Indian government to grant it sops to build its devices here which will allow it to navigate high taxes. 

However, the government has been slow in responding, choosing broad reforms to boost all electronics manufacturing in the country rather than favour any particular company. Apple began assembling its iPhone SE in India a few months ago and plans to expand its base here by selling not only its high-end iPhones but also older devices at mid-segment prices. 

“We began to produce the iPhone SE there during the quarter, and we're really happy with how that's going. And so we're bringing all of our energies to bear there. I see a lot of similarities to where China was several years ago,” Tim Cook, CEO of Apple said on August 2.