“At a bar called ‘University’ in San Giovanni a Teduccio, a rundown suburb of Naples, two blown-up photos adorn the walls: Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs, founder of Apple,” The Economist reports. “Nelson Ciarravolo, the owner, put them up when the bar opened two years ago, long before the news came that Apple would open its first European iOS (its mobile operating system) developer academy in the district. Locals joke that Mr Jobs’s photo may have gone up more recently. Either way, it signals that Naples has embraced the American tech giant. On October 6th Apple held the opening event for the new academy, which it will run in collaboration with Federico II University, after which the bar is named.”
“‘We go to places nobody thought were possible,’, explained Lisa Jackson, vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple, at the inaugural event. Naples lags far behind northern Italy for transport and digital infrastructure, and criminality is rife. The Camorra, a mafia gang, runs one of the biggest drug-trafficking enterprises in the world from the city,” The Economist reports. “The neighbourhood in which Apple has opened the academy (it is located inside a new campus of Federico II University) used to be more dangerous. ‘We used to see our friends die on the ground,’ recalls Davide Varlese, a cousin of Mr Ciarravolo. But things have improved over the past decade as authorities have clamped down. At least the Camorra doesn’t come asking for money in bars any more, locals say.”
The Economist reports, “Apple says the point of the app academy is to go where it can have the most impact.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is very good news for Naples!
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s new iOS center in Naples raises eyebrows – January 26, 2016
Apple opening Europe’s first iOS app development center in Italy – January 21, 2016
Apple to pay $348 million to settle Italy tax fraud case – December 30, 2015
“vedi Napoli e poi muori.”
votare Trump e vomito
Melvinus vaginus magnum.
Interesting that this is the location of Elena Ferrante’s novel about a friendship between two women, one of whom becomes an early computer entrepreneur– I am at the place in the fourth novel where she introduces the first IBM PC to her young daughter…..
Naples is where we filmed the National Geographic documentary, Pickpocket King, with Bob Arno and the pickpockets of Naples. See it at http://www.realthieves.com