Apple to open startup accelerator in Bengaluru

 Apple will soon announce a startup accelerator in the Silicon Valley of India to take advantage of its vibrant startup ecosystem.

According to a source who is closely associated with the development said Deccan Herald that the accelerator will help the global smartphone maker’s initiative to establish an ecosystem for its products.

“This is first of its kind initiative from Apple anywhere in the world. It will give greater synergy with the market as the accelerator will incubate companies which will help in the development of apps and products specifically for Indian market,” said the source.

The facility will incubate a couple of startups in the initial phase and then nurture more startups. “Xiomi, a Chinese company, also began a development centre in Bengaluru to bring synergy in its expansion plan. But the accelerator from Apple will incubate ideas mostly around applications built for iOS and the Apple operating system,” said the source.

Apple, through the startup accelerator,  would like to make it clear that it would like to work closely with Modi-led government’s initiative like Startup India and Digital India. The company CEO Tim Cook is arriving in Mumbai as part of his India visit on Wednesday.

He will visit Hyderabad and New Delhi later. He will hold discussion on make in India initiative and resolve issues after government rejected Apple's plan to sell 'used-iPhones'.

Besides announcing its plan to set up its first retail, brand-owned outlet in the country, the visit of the CEO will further boost its initiatives in the country where it registered 56% growth in Q1, compared with the same period in the last year.