Apple Says Korea Has One of the World's Most Dynamic Developer Communities

Apple announced today (July 29) that it is supporting the improvement of domestic developers' development environments and their expansion into global markets based on artificial intelligence (AI) development tools and the App Store.

Apple held a briefing at Apple Korea in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the same day to introduce ways to support the domestic developer ecosystem through the latest development tools, the App Store, and developer education programs.

Nwai Kee Sheah, Apple's Head of Worldwide Developer Relations, who led the briefing, said, "Korea is one of the countries with the most dynamic and creative developer communities in the world," adding, "We are proud that the App Store and Apple's tools are playing a role in supporting their success."

Through the new AI development environment unveiled at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26), Apple has enabled developers to utilize external AI models such as Claude and Gemini, as well as Apple's foundation models.

It is also possible to run proprietary large language models (LLMs) in an on-device environment.

In the development tool Xcode, AI models from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI can be directly utilized in the development process, and the programming language SwiftUI and the next-generation design system Liquid Glass have also been improved.

Domestic developer nurturing programs are also in operation.

According to Apple, through the Pohang Developer Academy, which opened in 2022, more than 1,000 graduates have been produced to date, and apps launched by alumni have exceeded 400.

Over the past 10 years, about 600 Korean students have participated in the Swift Student Challenge, with 120 winning awards.

Cases of domestic development companies utilizing Apple platforms were also unveiled at the event.

Sketchsoft, the developer of the 3D drawing app Feather, stated that it currently provides its service to about 150 countries through the App Store and received help from the global distribution system during its process of targeting the U.S. and Chinese markets.

CookieRun IP developer Devsisters introduced that it received support such as App Store featuring and strategic consulting for overseas expansion.

The mobile idle role-playing game (RPG) CookieRun: Kingdom - CookieRun: Crumble, scheduled for release tomorrow (July 30), was also demonstrated at the event.

VیموSoft introduced that it applied AI features to its video editing app Whalo using Apple's foundation models and Vision Framework to recommend music and stickers tailored to the editing context.

Nexon subsidiary Mintrocket explained that it received support from Apple during the launch process of the hybrid marine adventure game Dave the Diver, such as mobile UI optimization, Game Center integration, and App Store editorial featuring.
 
(Photo provided by Apple, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.