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Friday, February 01, 2013, 07:00 pm
Apple exec John Couch meets with Turkish president over possible $4.5B iPad buy
Apple's Vice President of Education John Couch on Friday sat down with Turkish President Abdullah Gül in a meeting covering a possible education initiative worth $4.5 billion, as well as the incorrect layout of the Turkish "F-keyboard."
Apple VP John Couch (right) discusses an education initiative with Turkish President Abdullah Gül (left).
Source: President of Turkey's official website
According to Turkish blog Ima Dergisi, Couch was joined by other Apple executives in his meeting with President Gül, which reportedly focused on an educational initiative to put up to 15 million iPads in the hands of Turkey's young students.
Worth some $4.5 billion, the tablet program has Apple pushing for a contract, but a deal has yet to be reached as the parties negotiate further. While not the main topic of discussion, the layout of the Turkish "F-keyboard," which has a number of keys set in the wrong position, was also mentioned.
Most recently, Turkey was introduced to the iPhone 5 on Dec. 14, less than two weeks after Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in the region as part of a 56-country rollout.
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Previous Comments View All
Cha cha Ching
Uh, no, it's their positioning, not the "wrong" position... It's no more "wrong" than AZERTY or the Japanese keyboard.
I think you misunderstand, Apple accidentally swapped the position of two keys on the Turkish F keyboard from where they're supposed to be. It's a bug.
I think you misunderstand, Apple accidentally swapped the position of two keys on the Turkish F keyboard from where they're supposed to be. It's a bug.
Ah! Thanks for the correction. If we see a quick 6.1.1 update that fixes this, we'll know this sale went through.
Apple will have little chance of winning this contract. It will go to the highest bidder and that will be Microsoft. Microsoft has never been shy about spending money and this will be an excellent project to get those ZunePads some quick market share. All Apple wants to do is accumulate reserve cash as a safety net for when all carrier subsidies disappear. Microsoft doesn't need a safety net because Windows OS and Microsoft Office will never go away. A Microsoft tablet venture will only add to sales of both.
Please don't turn this political. I don't even know how it could--is Turkey even in the news beyond its border with Syria?
Today, unfortunately, very much so.
But I agree, this items described in the article are non-political and it would be good to keep the discussion here the same.
John Couch is a dedicated company man -- survived both eras of Steve Jobs, despite Steve actively killing his baby (the Lisa). I was completely surprised by the fact that he's still there -- good for him!
I think these figures must be wrong somehow, $4.5bn?
Apple will have little chance of winning this contract. It will go to the highest bidder and that will be Microsoft. Microsoft has never been shy about spending money and this will be an excellent project to get those ZunePads some quick market share. All Apple wants to do is accumulate reserve cash as a safety net for when all carrier subsidies disappear. Microsoft doesn't need a safety net because Windows OS and Microsoft Office will never go away. A Microsoft tablet venture will only add to sales of both.
Who said they want the surface? Turkey may have sense.
John Couch is a dedicated company man -- survived both eras of Steve Jobs, despite Steve actively killing his baby (the Lisa). I was completely surprised by the fact that he's still there -- good for him!
You could say he's sitting comfortably. 
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Please don't turn this political. I don't even know how it could--is Turkey even in the news beyond its border with Syria?--but really, there's not going to be much, if any, political reason for this.
Uh, no, it's their positioning, not the "wrong" position... It's no more "wrong" than AZERTY or the Japanese keyboard.