Apple announces opening of its map development centre in Hyderabad

Apple on Thursday officially announced the opening of its Hyderabad technology centre that will focus on the development of maps for its mobile products. The centre which has drawn in estimated investment of $25 million will employ up to 4,000 people according to the company.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, who is on his maiden visit to India, inaugurated the centre on Thursday in Hyderabad. Apple picked the city to setup its map development centre given the abundance of local talent fostered by a flourishing mapping industry built around The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).

“Apple is focused on making the best products and services in the world and we are thrilled to open this new office in Hyderabad which will focus on Maps development,” said Cook. “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,” he added.

Apple, which has been seen as a laggard in mapping services when compared to Google and Nokia’s Here Maps division (now sold to German consortium of automakers) is looking at the India centre to aid development of new features — such as 'Transit', which was launched with iOS 9, and shows users a combination of trains, subways, buses and walkways, in order to get around.

The centre will be housed in the Waverock special economic zone owned by the American property development and consultancy firm Tishman Speyer in Gachibowli. Reports have also suggested that the company might consider setting up its own campus in the city and could be allotted land for the same by the Telangana government.

“We are honoured Apple chose Hyderabad as a home for its Maps development office,” said Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao. “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,” he added.

The opening of the centre will also boost Apple’s development ecosystem in India, which already supports over 640,000 iOS app developer jobs in the country. Apple announced on Wednesday the setting up of an app accelerator in Bengaluru that will support developers in order to boost the quality of apps on its iOS platform in India.

India is becoming a hub for global companies to build their mapping capabilities out of. Search giant Google’s Map Maker tool was built out of India, while Nokia’s mapping division too had a large presence in the country. Bengaluru, the technology hub of India, seems to have lost some of its sheen to attract companies such as Apple.