Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has launched its ‘App development with Swift’ curriculum, which will be taught in 30 U.S community college across the US. The course is already available in iBooks and is designed to help students without any coding experience to have an understanding of what it takes to build iOS and Mac apps.
App Development With Swift
The curriculum which was launched at a press conference in Austin Texas targets 74,000 students by this fall. Some of the colleges that will teach the courses include the Alabama Community College System, Northwest Kansas Technical College, and the Northeast Mississippi Community college.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, says they are expanding the program buoyed by the success of the iOS app ecosystem in transforming the global economy.
“We believe passionately that the same opportunity should be extended to everyone, and community colleges have a powerful reach into communities where education becomes the great equalize,” said Mr. Cook.
Fostering Economic and Workforce Development
Unveiled in 2014, the Swift Program is Apple’s preferred method of teaching third party developers how to develop apps for the iOS ecosystem. Engineers and educators at the tech giant developed the curriculum, underscoring the company’s commitment to fostering economic and workforce development.
Apple’s app ecosystem supports over 1.5 million jobs in the United States. Last year, developers developing apps for the iOS ecosystem earned a total of $5 billion, a 40% increase from 2015 level. Developers have earned a total of $16 billion since Apple launched its App Store.
Apple is not the only company expanding its footprint into the education realms. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in the process of handing out 1,600 Echo Dot speakers to Arizona State University Engineering students. The donation seeks to enable the students to learn how to build voice skills as well as apps for the e-commerce giant digital assistant.
Apple, Amazon and other tech giants plan to use their school related programs to influence the next generation of software developers as they seek to bolster support for their app stores.
Apple was up by 0.37% in Friday’s trading session to end the week at $159.86 a share.