Amazon brings macOS to cloud in a boost to Apple app developers

The service, called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Mac instances, runs on Mac mini computers and will support developers creating apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Safari.

FILE PHOTO: An Amazon logo is pictured at a logistics centre in Mannheim, Germany, September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo (REUTERS)

Amazon.com Inc will run Apple Inc's macOS on its cloud service for the first time, allowing app developers for Apple's devices to access the operating system on demand, the company's cloud unit Amazon Web Services said on Monday.

The service, called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Mac instances, runs on Mac mini computers and will support developers creating apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Safari, the cloud unit said.

Amazon previously offered the EC2 instances service for Windows and Linux.

Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS) said it will use the version of Mac mini computers with Intel's eighth-generation 3.2GHz Core i7 processors for EC2 Mac instances.

"With EC2 Mac instances, developers can ... focus on creating groundbreaking apps for Apple's industry-leading platforms, rather than procuring and managing the underlying infrastructure," David Brown, vice president of EC2 at AWS, said.

AWS said cloud support for devices with Apple's new M1 chip is in the works, with a launch planned for 2021.