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Apple announces app development accelerator in Bengaluru to start Tim Cook's India visit

As part of Apple CEO Time Cook's first visit to India, the company has announced that it will open a new iOS app design and development accelerator in India's Silicon Valley Bengaluru by early 2017. 

The new centre is a major step towards Apple's attempt to expands its share in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market. The new centre will attract and encourage the country's developers to make apps for iOS.  

“India is home to one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial iOS development communities in the world,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “With the opening of this new facility in Bengaluru, we’re giving developers access to tools which will help them create innovative apps for customers around the world.”

The centre will provide support to Indian developers in the form of weekly briefings by Apple experts and one-on-one app reviews. It will also offer guidance on Swift, Apple's programming language for developing apps for iOS, Apple TV, Mac OS and Apple Watch. Earlier this year Apple had announced an iOS app development centre in Naples, Italy.

During his maiden visit, Cook is also expected to focus on increasing Apple's revenues from India, after the company posted its first-ever decline in global iPhone sales in the last quarter. With slowing demand in the West and even China, India had acquired greater importance for the technology giant. While Apple has recorded brisk iPhone sales in the last year,  it still has only a 2% share in the country's price-sensitive smartphone market.