Apple’s iPhone wasn’t just a game changer in the smartphone industry, it sent ripples across countless other industries as well. In fact, iOS was the catalyst that created an entire new economy. Mobile application development has become an industry worth many billions of dollars each year, and it has spawned a number of large development houses with market values that reach into the billions themselves.
Part of the beauty of this bustling new industry is that it has no borders. Developers can thrive anywhere there are computers and Internet access. The Flappy Bird phenomenon, painful though it may have been, was proof of this. And now, Apple has announced that it will open a brand new app development center in Europe to help educate young developers and set them on a course for success.
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“Europe is home to some of the most creative developers in the world and we’re thrilled to be helping the next generation of entrepreneurs in Italy get the skills they need for success,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement on Thursday morning. “The phenomenal success of the App Store is one of the driving forces behind the more than 1.4 million jobs Apple has created in Europe and presents unlimited opportunities for people of all ages and businesses of all sizes across the continent.”
Apple’s new development center, aptly named “The iOS App Development Center,” will be located in Naples Italy and it will provide a curriculum designed specifically to give young developers the skills they need to thrive in this competitive industry.
Of course the goal of the new institution isn’t simply to churn out young developers hoping to score big with the next Flappy Bird. Instead, Apple pointed out just how reliant the European economy has become on Apple and its efforts in the region.
“Thousands of companies are expanding because of their work with Apple, which supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in communities large and small across Europe,” Apple said in a press release. “Milan-based Laboratorio Elettrofisico makes some of the most sophisticated magnetization equipment in the world and their technology enables some of the industry-leading magnetic features found in Apple products. Apple also works with Europe’s leading manufacturers of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, which create tiny components that power some of the incredible sensor and audio technologies found in iOS devices.”
Apple also noted that in Italy alone, more than 75,000 jobs can be attributed to the App Store and the surrounding iOS developer community.
