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Apple allies with Cherokee tribe to put language on iPhones
By siliconindia
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Saturday, 25 December 2010, 19:24 IST
Tahlequah: Apple has been working with the Native American Cherokee tribe members to include their language as an option on iOS devices. This project is an effort to appeal to the younger digital tribe members who want iPhones and iPods and who also want to keep up their heritage, reports The Associated Press.
A blacksmith named Sequoyah converted Cherokee into its own unique written form two centuries back and now being partnered with Apple, the tribal students are allowed to type using Cherokee characters in the computers at the tribe's language immersion school.
The software for iPhone and iPod has already been made and an iPad version of the application is reportedly in the making.
The officials of the Cherokee tribe had approached Apple approximately three years ago about getting their language on the iPhone. However, Apple had kept it secret that it had granted their request until right before iOS 4.1 was released in September.
Although Apple has not commented on the matter, the officials from the tribe claimed that Cherokee is the only American Indian language supported by Apple devices. It is reported that there are only 10,000 speakers of Cherokee, with the younger tribe members not ever taking the time to learn the ancient language.
