Tim Cook to announce new nationwide training program at press event in Austin today [Video] [U]

Update: Apple has announced that the Swift app development curriculum noted below is being expanded to more community colleges.

Apple today announced the App Development with Swift curriculum will now be offered in more than 30 community college systems across the country in the 2017-2018 school year, providing opportunities to millions of students to build apps that will prepare them for careers in software development and information technology. The Austin Community College District (ACC), one of the nation’s largest higher learning institutions, will begin offering the course to its 74,000 students this fall.

It will be a bit of a disappointment if this turns out to be the entirety of Apple’s announcements today …

Tim Cook is currently travelling around the USA, with stops in Ohio and Iowa before moving on to Austin, Texas. According to a speech by Austin mayor Steve Adler, Apple will be announcing a new nationwide training program later today.

I’m in a press conference tomorrow with Apple, and Tim Cook is here as we’re announcing a training program for people. They’re announcing it all over the country.

The visit to Iowa came ahead of Apple confirming plans for a new $1.3B data center in Waukee …

Mayor Adler didn’t give any details about the nature of the training program.

Apple has established app development centers in a number of countries around the world, including India and Italy. In the US, the company has run free introductory coding workshops at Apple Stores aimed at kids, and Cook has pushed to making coding classes a requirement in schools. Apple also offers a free Swift app development curriculum on iBooks, which will be taught at a number of community colleges.

We also received an anonymous tip from someone claiming to work at an Austin-based augmented reality company which is said to have been involved in Cook’s trip. The tipster claimed that Cook would be be making an AR-related announcement today, and would also confirm the launch date of the iPhone at the same time – currently reported to be September 12.

We have no way to verify this. The tipster’s info included a link to the flight schedules of a NetJets aircraft which do seem to tally with Cook’s known movements, though the email was sent from an IP address elsewhere in the country.

If the information is correct, then it is possible that the training program Cook is due to announce will be AR related. Cook has previously said that he is so excited about AR that he wants ‘to yell out and scream.’ The iPhone 8, with a dual-camera arrangement intended to work best when the phone is held horizontally, is expected to major on AR features.

You can listen to the relevant part of the mayor’s speech in the video below.