Apple, Microsoft and Intel to bid on 15 million unit tablet deal
Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan told Anatolia news agency that the three companies are actively engaged in pursuing a bid for this government-funded project, called Fatih (Turkish for conqueror), according to Bloomberg.
Caglayan revealed that negotiations with Apple officials took place during his visit to the U.S. and noted that Apple as part of the deal would considering manufacturing various iPad and iPhone peripherals in Turkey, such as earphones and covers.
Rival companies Microsoft and Intel are also interested in the Fatih project, with Microsoft confirmed to make a visit to Turkey to learn more about this governmental initiative and Intel said to consider opening a research and development center in Turkey.
Another Turkish government official, Industry Minister Nihat Ergun, said, on July 13, that the winning company will have to build the 15 million tablets in Turkey.
Apple is known for outsourcing smartphone, tablet and computer contracts to Asian-based corporations where long-time partners like Foxconn and Pegatron are usually awarded production orders for Appleâs mobile devices. Foxconn is currently producing iPad 2 tablets and the Chinese supplier is also expected to start iOS tablet manufacturing in Brazil next month.
64 Comments
TBH let's look at the Players:
Apple- 2 succesful Tablets with worldwide Recognition and full integration with ease of Use.
Intel- The Meego Platform, which is a very nice OS and not hard to navigate around. The Problem? Intel can't build a tablet to save their lives. At least not using 3rd party OS's.
MS: Has yet to push their Tablet OS out and has no guarantees that what we see is what we are getting OR how much they will cost.
The safest bet would and most friendly would be Apple.
The most dangerous would be Intel, and MS acts as a nice buffer in between.
Apple has a product to ship today... if they had to. iPads are already being used in schools.
What sort of Intel/Microsoft tablet are they talking about? Meego or Windows 8 ?
They're schoolchildren. Schoolchildren. And immediately we've got huge corporations fighting to "snatch them up."
Shouldn't the government evaluate what the best tablet choice is rather than just going with the highest bidder?
Last I checked, Microsoft and Intel don't even make their own tablets.