Apple says as many as 1.4 million jobs across Europe rely on the company’s App Store, and it is launching an iOS Development Center on the continent to provide future developers with the means to learn, teach, and create apps for iOS.
The development center will be based in Naples, Italy, and gives students the opportunity to study a specialized curriculum focused on iOS. Apple plans to offer additional support to educators and specialists in the country to make sure students are learning about iOS development and are up to date on the latest features.
It is the first move by Apple to offer a brick and mortar education platform for budding iOS developers, though we suspect most of the information and tests will be available online. The company claims that more development centers are coming to Europe in the future, but declined to give the names of any countries on the shortlist.
European app developers have made $11 billion from App Store sales, about a quarter of the $40 billion in total worldwide sales.
Europe might not reach the same highs as the United States when it comes to app sales, but it is quickly becoming a major region for the iPhone maker. In the past year, Apple has seen growth in almost every European country, with Germany, Italy, and the U.K. all buying more iPhones last year than ever before. That said, Spain is still 90-percent Android, and in France, iPhone sales are declining.
Apple has not said when it will open the doors to new applicants or who it has partnered with to launch the development center. Apple also didn’t mention the cost for enrolling, if there is a cost. Tuition fees for state universities in Italy cost between €850 and €1,200 per year, but private universities can cost a lot more.
