The Android Skilling program will be introduced for free at public and private universities and via training schools through an in-person module, which will be integrated into the course curriculum. The program will also be available through a government program, the National Skills Development Corporation of India, the company said in a press release.
India is expected to have four million software developers by 2018, at which point it will overtake the US and be able to boast having the largest population of developers in the world, according to the statement. However, today, less than a quarter of these developers are trained to program software for the mobile platform.
"The majority of India's Internet user base today access the Internet from their mobile phones and almost all the future Internet users in India and many of the world's emerging countries will be mobile only. There is a huge opportunity for India to become a global leader in mobile app development and we want to contribute and bridge the skills gap that exists today," Lubbers said.
With the program launch, Google is set to zoom past Apple in the race to build a larger developer base for its mobile platform in India.
During Tim Cook's first official visit to India in May, Apple announced it would open a development accelerator in the country's "IT capital", Bangalore, to provide specialized support for iOS app developers. The new facility would provide development access tools to create innovative apps for customers around the world, he said.
