India now becomes Apple’s map maker

Telangana IT minister K.T. Rama Rao takes a selfie with Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Apple CEO Tim Cook in Hyderabay. (Photo: Asian Age)

Hyderabad will soon be playing a key role in guiding the high profile users of iPhone and iPad like French President François Hollande, Queen Elizabeth II, Chinese First Lady Peng Li Yuan, Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and also Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as Apple’s new centre in the city will develop maps for the most desired and aspirational phone in the world.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who alongwith Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao inaugurated his company’s campus in the city, said the new “office in Hyderabad which will focus on maps development” as it upgrades and adds new features to Maps such as 3D views, the Flyover and Transit. The new centre, which will employ upto 4,000 people, will accelerate Maps development for Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

“Apple has been always about creating very best products in the world. Nevertheless, perhaps not the first, but always the best. We have always tried to make the products that would enrich other people’s lives because we are driven by as a culture to change others lives and changing it for better. In that, I think we will find many kindred souls in India,” Mr Cook said in a closed-door meeting attended by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao, IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan among others.

The Maps project is extremely crucial for Apple. The tech giant has been trying to wrest the mapping market away from Google in an attempt to develop its own maps app for devices. And with the Hyderabad facility playing host to a part of the project, Apple’s decision to invest in the capital of Telangana state is perhaps one of the most high-profile tech entries in recent times.

IT minister K.T. Rama Rao asked Mr Cook to consider setting up its bigger campus in Hyderabad and offered to allocate land. He also asked Mr Cook to consider choosing Telangana for setting up its factory, whenever his company decides so.

Speaking to reporters after the inauguration, Mr Rama Rao said with Apple setting up its centre in Hyderabad, the city is now home to four of the top five high-valued tech companies.

Paying a tribute to the technological talent of Hyderabadis, Mr Cook said he believed that history is repeats and the history is repeating in Hyderabad. “I found that there is technology (in Hyderabad) even in the very early days, particularly around acoustics, and hydralic drains. So there is this intersection in history of technology... I think history repeats and I think history is repeating here,” Mr Cook said, apparently referring to the use of acoustics in the Golconda Fort.

Mr Cook, whose visit had been kept under wraps till Wednesday, was taken on a visit to Golconda in the morning with a history professor as a guide immediately after he landed in Hyderabad. After the inauguration of the new centre, Mr Cook interacted with girl students at an engineering college as part of Apple Diversity and left for Kanpur in the afternoon to watch an IPL match.