AppleInsider Staff
Apple CEO Tim Cook and select executives will reportedly visit Turkey in February to discuss a potential iPad in education deal worth over $4 billion, while saving time to stop by the country's first brick-and-mortar Apple Store.
According to Turkish language publication emlakkulisi.com (machine translation), Cook will be in Turkey next year to meet with President Abdullah Gül over the country's so-called "FATIH Project," which seeks to replace blackboards and textbooks with modern computing devices.
In May, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Apple headquarters to inspect the tech giant's latest technological advancements before putting out a bid for his FATIH project.
The program's initial phase calls for the acquisition of 10.6 million tablets and could be followed by another purchase of between 2 to 2.5 million iPads. In total, the initiative is scheduled to roll out over a four-year period and is expected to cost between $3 and $4 billion.
Along with the presidential meeting, the publication claims Cook is also planning to visit Turkey's first Apple Store in Istanbul's Zorlu Center, which is set to open early next year. The over 21,500-square-foot location is said to feature an all-glass cube-like cap structure similar to the famous Fifth Avenue store in New York.
Apple is continuously pushing beyond established markets like the U.S. and Europe, apparently concentrating efforts on developing economies. Istanbul's brick-and-mortar Apple Store will be Apple's second official retail presence in Turkey, following October's debut of the Turkish Online Apple Store.
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28 Comments
Turkey is a fascinating culture. This could be quite a coup for Apple.
Wow, That would be an awesome deal. 1 Country, 2 Countries, 3 Countries, 4... 1 Tablet, 2 Tablets, 3 Tablets, 4... 1 TV, 2 TVs, 3 TVs, 4... This could be the start of something big. Imagine every elementary school and every university using iOS devices... with private, customizable iTunesU like teaching platform... integrating iPads, TVs, iBooks etc... Apple has all the needed components.
Hasn't this deal been in the works for awhile? Any chance the B&M store wouldn't have happened if not for the Turkish government being keen on getting a huge deal with Apple?
Apparently nobody reads the news... major corruption scandal over the past few days involving Erdo?an's cabinet, leading to anti-government street protests, violence, and blaming the West. iPads are probably the last thing on his mind right now.
Turkey is a fascinating culture. This could be quite a coup for Apple.
My sister lived there for a few years and loved it. I read a recent article in the "Off Duty" section of the Saturday WSJ and don't remember which "fashion designer" said it but Istanbul was his favorite city to vacation in.
I'll have to check it one day! :) Don't want to sound too judgmental, but it's probably the only muslim country I would consider going to. The rest seem to sh*tholes. Egypt certainly was.