Apple promises eco-friendly business in India by running on 100% renewable energy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday told top American executives that India is a business-friendly country of "minimum government," as he prepared for a first meeting with President Donald Trump aimed at improving ties and moving past differences over climate change.
The meeting Sunday at a Washington hotel included the heads of some of the top US technology companies, including Google's Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Shantanu Narayen from Adobe Systems, all of whom are Indian American. Also present were Apple's Tim Cook and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.
Apple is pretty much eager to expand its business in India. The aim is to help make their products cheaper and affordable in the country and also make way for new jobs in India. The US-based firm has indicated plans to put up manufacturing lines in India this year.
In the Budget 2017-18, a concessional SAD of 2 per cent was imposed on populated Printed Circuit Boards for manufacture of mobile phones. Apple in their communications indicated their plan for selective introduction of manufacturing lines in Spring 2017.
With sales tapering in the US and China, Apple is eyeing India — the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world — and looking to set up a local manufacturing unit to cut costs. It, however, does not make devices on its own and does it through contract manufacturers.
On March 31, Apple announced the opening of its App Accelerator in Bengaluru. “iOS is the world’s most powerful mobile operating system and the foundation for iPhone and iPad, and the App Accelerator Bengaluru will provide specialised support for developers, including tools and best practices to hone their skills and transform the design, quality and performance of their apps on the iOS platform,’ said Apple. India has one of the most vibrant and exciting iOS developer communities in the world and already tens of thousands of developers in India make apps for iOS. The App Accelerator Bengaluru helps to further enrich the iOS app ecosystem.
Each week, Apple experts lead briefings and provide one-on-one app reviews for developers. The first-of-its-kind facility also provides support and guidance on Swift, Apple’s powerful and intuitive programming language created to build apps for iOS, Apple TV and Apple Watch. Swift enables developers to write safer, more reliable code, save time and create richer app experiences.
According to some sources, during the briefing, Apple CEO Tim Cook updated some important statistics to the Prime Minister Modi that ‘presently there are more than 740,000 app economy jobs created, which also depend on the iOS platform. Indian app developers have created more than 100,000 apps for the App Store, which is a remarkable 57 per cent in the year 2016.
To add to Apple’s presence, and boost to the country’s economy, the Cupertino giant has already began production of the iPhone SE in India last month, according to a source (a third-party contractor) in the industry. Apple has also planned ahead to ensure that the production units and their offices around the country are running on eco-friendly methods. At present, Apple has said that they are ‘proud’ to say that they will be running their business in India on 100 per cent renewable energy.
