"Korea has had one of the most active and creative developer communities in the world. We are proud that Apple has provided developers with the tools they need."
Enwei Xie, head of Developer Relations who visited from Apple's headquarters, on the 29th introduced the areas where the Apple App Store supports the domestic developer ecosystem at the "Developer ecosystem briefing" held at the Apple Korea office in Samseong-dong, Seoul.
Apple supports developers in leveraging world-class tools, frameworks, and technologies. At WWDC26, Apple's annual developer conference in June, Apple unveiled a new intelligence framework that lets developers implement artificial intelligence (AI) features in apps easily and flexibly. With it, developers can use next-generation Apple foundation models, or choose external models they want such as Claude and Gemini, and run large language models (LLMs) on device. Developers can also use the latest models and agents from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI directly within their development workflow through Xcode27.
Xie, the head of Developer Relations, said Apple provides Korean developers with opportunities to go global through the App Store. One example is the "Apple Developer Academy," which Apple opened in 2022 at Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH. The opening of the Developer Academy was part of the corrective and co-prosperity measures Apple submitted to the Korea Fair Trade Commission in January 2021 regarding acts of abusing its superior bargaining position over telecom companies. Branded as Apple's "talent academy," the Developer Academy launched with a budget of 25 billion won, aiming to train 200 learners annually. It is operated to create diverse jobs—such as entrepreneurs, developers, and designers—in the iOS app (application) ecosystem and support challenges in starting businesses.
Apps released on the App Store by Developer Academy alumni have surpassed 400. Over the past six years, nearly 600 Korean students have participated in the global competition for student developers that Apple runs, the "Swift Student Challenge," with more than 120 winning awards. Of those, 10 were selected as "Distinguished Winner" and visited Apple Park in Cupertino, California, where the company is headquartered. Seven of this year's winners are graduates of or currently enrolled in the Developer Academy.
At the event, domestic developers also shared cases of using Apple's platforms.
Lee Kyung-hyun, CEO of BimoSoft, which operates the video editing apps VLLO and WEILO, said, "With Apple foundation models and Vision framework technology, we were able to strengthen AI-recommended stickers and music recommendation features in video editing."
Hwang Jae-ho, CEO of Mintrocket, a Nexon subsidiary that developed DAVE THE DIVER, said, "Korean games have become widely known globally, but the App Store helps promote games to the global market," adding, "We are especially looking forward to users being able to try paid game apps before purchasing."
Kim Yong-gwan, CEO who developed the drawing app "Feather: Draw in 3D," said, "We beta-tested on multiple platforms before launch, but since it's a 3D drawing app and many users are on iPad, we are focusing solely on the App Store for development."
A Devsisters official who operates Cookie Run said, "We received support from Apple such as strategic consulting for overseas expansion."