HYDERABAD: Apple Inc's CEO Tim Cook duly landed in Hyderabad, did what he came to do -- start up his business operations in the city -- and said what all global business leaders who come to Hyderabad say: “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 up our operations.”
As PR speak, it's par for the course of course, even in a state where the software industry says 90 per cent of university grads are short on the kind of skills required by multinational companies such as Apple. But Apple is here at last, affording Hyderabad the crowing right to say that all IT biggies have set up shop here, such as MS, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and so on.
And at the inauguration of the Apple Maps office at Nanakramguda on Thursday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao duly said what government leaders say when Silicon Valley stars descend to terra firma: “We are honoured that Apple chose Hyderabad as a home for its Maps development office. 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.”
The Hyderabad will develop maps for Apple products, including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. The job creation number touted by the minders and ushers of the programme was 4,000 but few details were furnished to the media where the hiring will be and of what capacity.
Just a little light was cast upon that aspect by Anup Jindal, the CEO of RMSI, Apple's partner in this project. “We are experts in geospatial data and we will be hiring thousands of people from the local area to support this effort,” he said.
It wasn't also clear whether the hiring will be Apple's or RMSI's. The new facility is located on the Waverock campus in Gachibowli. A press release from Apple said the campus is world-class, and which will provide something called "a LEED-certified home for the expanding Maps team".