Tasmanian premier and former IT industry staffer David Bartlett has hosted a roundtable involving the reclusive chief executive of Apple Australia, Tony King.

The executive is rarely seen at IT industry events and does not grant interviews — but Bartlett said he was able to drag King down to the apple isle for a confab with ten Tasmanian technology companies.

“The Tasmanian Government is focused on creating the jobs of tomorrow, through innovative ideas in sustainable markets,” said Bartlett. “The mobile application sector fits that mission perfectly. It’s a competitive emerging industry, full of cleve and creative ideas, with its best and most productive years ahead of it.”

Bartlett said King was “fully aware” of what the premier described as “Tasmania’s emerging broadband advantage”, referring to the state’s pole position in the National Broadband Network rollout.

However, it remains unclear if that rollout will be realised, with the future of the NBN project in doubt as Australia continues to wait upon the outcome of the Federal Election more than a week ago. The Coalition has pledged to cancel the project if it wins Government.

The roundtable had brought King “face to face” with some of Tasmania’s “most innovative and talented IT players — especially in the mobile application sector,” said Bartlett.

The Apple conference comes a month after Bartlett released the details of his recent nine-day trip to the United States, which included extensive meetings with technology companies.

For example, the Premier met with a number of executives from Microsoft, Cisco, Meebo, Tapulous and Google, as well as hosting a reception for up to 30 Silicon Valley startups and companies such as Spikesource and Juniper Networks.

Image credit: Delimiter screenshot of Google Maps

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