Apple Committed to Supporting Saudi Arabia in Digital Transformation Plan

Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women at Apple. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women at Apple. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Apple Committed to Supporting Saudi Arabia in Digital Transformation Plan

Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women at Apple. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women at Apple. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Esther Hare, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor of Women at Apple, underlined the company’s commitment to helping Saudi Arabia in its digital transformation plan.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Hare stressed that Apple was proud of the launch of its first regional academy for women in Riyadh, to provide new job opportunities in the app economy for women across the region.

Apple recently celebrated the fruits of its partnership with Saudi Arabia, with the graduation of more than 100 young women from the Apple Academy at Princess Nourah University in Riyadh, where they produced more than 100 applications that would help and accelerate the digital transformation process to accomplish many Saudi Vision projects by 2030.

Hare noted that Saudi Arabia was selected as a regional hub for the Apple Academy, thanks to the tremendous opportunities and changes taking place in the Kingdom, which made Apple focus on diversity and inclusion and provide the application ecosystem to the largest number of people.

She added that the company was looking forward to expanding the diversity of the developer database and creating apps for the iPhone and other company platforms.

The headquarters of the Apple Academy are located within Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University - the largest women’s university in the world, Hare underlined.

Hare told Asharq Al-Awsat: “They are very successful partners… We are thrilled to be partnering here… and really excited to focus on education now in the country. We talk about the people, the energy, the beautiful building, everything that makes today possible and seeing these graduates really come through the program. It is exciting.”

She stressed that Saudi Arabia was the 19th largest economy in the world, boasting huge investment opportunities. She added that Apple was committed to the changes happening in the Kingdom, and excited to see Saudi women graduating from Apple Academy.

Among the factors that will contribute to the success of the academy, according to Hare, is the availability of energy and people. She noted in this regard that the graduates were enthusiastic about the work and the transformation they were making in a successful learning environment.

Regarding Apple Academy’s contribution to helping Saudi Arabia in its transformation plan, Hare said: “We are committed to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plan, as Apple Academic Developer is designed to provide tools and training for aspiring entrepreneurs, developers and designers to find and create jobs in the flourishing iOS application economy. We designed this program to uplift communities and provide job opportunities for young people around the world.”

Hare told Asharq Al-Awsat that digital transformation would require a new set of workforce, full of new tools, ideas and new skills. Moreover, she added that the academy was designed to fully prepare the graduates to engage directly in the industry and achieve the required transformation.

“These graduates are prepared to head straight into the job market. I met 100 young women who represent the future of the tech industry here in the Kingdom,” said Hare.

“The app developer community will expand every year, and I am confident that we will continue to see not only massive growth, but also tremendous talent to come from this region,” she remarked.

Hare noted that the Academy programs cover the use of Swift to develop iOS applications, along with courses on marketing, business and cooperation skills, business management, decision-making and entrepreneurship.

“Many of the female graduates here have had great jobs while starting their careers as iOS developers, UX designers, project managers and more... As we expand the program, we expect to eventually reach more than 600 women each year with world-class learning opportunities,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hare went on to say that the Apple Academy at Princess Nourah University was the first academy dedicated to programmers and entrepreneurs internationally, and designed to empower women in the region and support them in career development.



Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
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Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he's levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico.

Trump announced the tariffs on two of the United States' biggest trade partners in letters posted to his social media account.

In his letter to Mexico's leader, Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States. But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added, The AP news reported.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said that the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”

Trump is in the midst of an announcement blitz of new tariffs with allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a US economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades.

With the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round. Countries could set their own tariffs – but under the “most favored nation’’ approach, they couldn’t charge one country more than they charged another.

With Saturday's letters, Trump has now issued tariff conditions on 24 countries and the 27-member European Union.

The European Union’s chief trade negotiator said earlier this week that a trade deal to avert higher tariffs on European goods imported to the US could be reached “even in the coming days.” Maroš Šefčovič told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday that the EU had been spared the increased tariffs contained in the letters Trump sent on Monday, and that an extension of talks would provide “additional space to reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

The bloc collectively sells more to the US than any other country. US goods imports from the EU topped $553 billion in 2022, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Trump on April 2 proposed a 20% tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50% after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked. Sefcovic did not mention any tariff figures.

The higher tariffs as well as any EU retaliation had been suspended as the two sides negotiate. However the base rate of 10% for most trade partners as well as higher rates of 25% on autos and 50% on steel and aluminum had gone into effect.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum, said the letters were evidence that serious trade talks were not taking place over the past three months. He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimize their own exposure to the US economy and Trump.

“They’re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like, and we’re left out,” Holtz-Eakin said.

He added that Trump was using the letters to demand attention, but, “In the end, these are letters to other countries about taxes he’s going to levy on his citizens.”