Apple exec John Couch meets with Turkish president over possible $4.5B iPad buy

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  • Reply 21 of 85
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    I'm assuming that they're meeting with other companies also, looking into all of the options, and if this is a bidding war, then Apple will probably not and should not win. If one customer buys 15 million iPads, then great, but Apple shouldn't give too much of a discount. If it comes down to money and budget in the end, with Turkey trying to cheap out and save a buck or two, then Apple will probably not win. Let Turkey's students end up with some Android crap instead, it'll be their loss. They'll be dumber because of it.


     


    It makes no difference to me if Apple has an extra four Billion in their cash pile or not. It's not like their cash pile is helping the stock in any way. 

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  • Reply 22 of 85
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    For a $4.5 billion purchase I would want Tim Cook to be present.
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  • Reply 23 of 85


    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    It makes no difference to me if Apple has an extra four Billion in their cash pile or not. It's not like their cash pile is helping the stock in any way. 



     


    The extra marketshare will, regardless if the analysts want it to or not. 

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  • Reply 24 of 85
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    This is how a Turkish website is characterizing the meetings with Apple: Turkey doesn't want to be treated as a second-class country anymore. 


    http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=102678



    They are a second rate country, at least as far as Apple is concerned. That's why stuff there is released later than in other more important markets.

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  • Reply 25 of 85
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    The extra marketshare will, regardless if the analysts want it to or not. 



    You're right, the extra worldwide marketshare would be a positive, though I'm sure that certain people will find some negatives to pull out of the of story also, if it were to happen. 

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  • Reply 26 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    I'm assuming that they're meeting with other companies also, looking into all of the options, and if this is a bidding war, then Apple will probably not and should not win. If one customer buys 15 million iPads, then great, but Apple shouldn't give too much of a discount. If it comes down to money and budget in the end, with Turkey trying to cheap out and save a buck or two, then Apple will probably not win. Let Turkey's students end up with some Android crap instead, it'll be their loss. They'll be dumber because of it.


     


    It makes no difference to me if Apple has an extra four Billion in their cash pile or not. It's not like their cash pile is helping the stock in any way. 



     


    I wouldn't minimize Apple's (the iPad's) chances here.   The Turkish president met with Tim Cook in Cupertino.   They say they do not want to be treated as "second class" citizens -- why would they initiate an educational program with "second class" tablets?   There are lots of incentives that Apple can offer including price -- the competition can offer only price.  


     


    John Couch knows how to close this kind of deal!

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  • Reply 27 of 85
    "Throw in a döner kebab & you've got a deal!"

    You can file this one under HOPING THE NATO ADMISSIONS COMISSION IS WATCHING
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  • Reply 28 of 85
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


     


    Doesn't bother me. I've already lost all my money. I'm getting out of the stock game for good. Life lesson.



    That obviously sucks, but how could you lose all of your money on AAPL? It's not like the stock went to zero. Two ways I could see losing money on AAPL is if somebody was playing with risky options or by using a lot of margin, but not by just holding common stock without margin.

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  • Reply 29 of 85
    boxmaccary wrote: »
    You can file this one under HOPING THE NATO ADMISSIONS COMISSION IS WATCHING

    You mean EU? Turkey has been NATO since 1952.
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  • Reply 30 of 85
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post


     


    I wouldn't minimize Apple's (the iPad's) chances here.   The Turkish president met with Tim Cook in Cupertino.   They say they do not want to be treated as "second class" citizens -- why would they initiate an educational program with "second class" tablets?   There are lots of incentives that Apple can offer including price -- the competition can offer only price.


     


    John Couch knows how to close this kind of deal!



    Yes, I hope that you are right. Obviously a deal has more components to it than just price, unless somebody has the mindset of a Fandroid of course, and in that world price reigns supreme, above everything else. Hopefully the Turkish President doesn't have the mindset of a Fandroid.

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  • Reply 31 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    For a $4.5 billion purchase I would want Tim Cook to be present.


     


    Tim and Phil will attend the Turkey Apple Store opening and the Turkey Research Facility opening

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  • Reply 32 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SmileyDude View Post


    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 was surprised as well to see John Couch's name.


     


    As it is, Couch left Apple in 1984 and then came back in 2002 as VP of Education.

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  • Reply 33 of 85
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member


    Yeah, Apple should drop the opportunity to win the complete youth of an emerging country of 75 million people to save some percent margin!

     

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  • Reply 34 of 85
    binexbinex Posts: 23member


    Haha. Yes I was going to point out that QWERTY is not the only correct layout! Turks actually use two variants: a modified Q-layout and the F-layout.


     


    A piece of random personal information: I was working for Unisys in Istanbul in 1990-1993 and writing mainly banking apps for Windows 3.0 & 3.1 in Borland Pascal with a bit of assembly thrown in for good measure.


     


    At that time Microsoft only supported the modified Q-layout Turkish keyboard. I convinced my boss to let me buy the Microsoft DDK and then hacked it about to support the F-layout. I then wrote a small bios checksum app that would make it quit gracefully if it ran on anything other than a Unisys PC and then we gave it away to our clients for free.


     


    At that time Microsoft in Turkey was only a representative office and they told me several times at local IT fairs that they had tried to reverse engineer the driver to make it work on other PCs! They caught up about a year later, but Unisys definitely enjoyed the head start :)


     


    EDITED: I took out a particular phrase, lest I offend someone; it was used amongst British programmers for when their programs behaved badly and core'd. But having looked up it's origins, I can see that it's a bit dodgy :)

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  • Reply 35 of 85
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member


    WOW!  If this deal comes about and enriches Apple's coffers by $4.5B, obviously it will mean a 10%+ drop in Apple stock price. </s>


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  • Reply 36 of 85
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,398member
    15 million iPads? Holy fucking hell that is a big deal if it goes through. That's almost how much Apple sold globally in a quarter.
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  • Reply 37 of 85
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member


     



    Interesting story - I'd love to hear more details.

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  • Reply 38 of 85
    binex wrote: »
    Haha. Yes I was going to point out that QWERTY is not the only correct layout! Turks actually use two variants: a modified Q-layout and the F-layout.

    A piece of random personal information: I was working for Unisys in Istanbul in 1990-1993 and writing mainly banking apps for Windows 3.0 & 3.1 in Borland Pascal with a bit of assembly thrown in for good measure.

    At that time Microsoft only supported the modified Q-layout Turkish keyboard. I convinced my boss to let me buy the Microsoft DDK and then hacked it about to support the F-layout. I then wrote a small bios checksum app that would make it quit gracefully if it ran on anything other than a Unisys PC and then we gave it away to our clients for free.

    At that time Microsoft in Turkey was only a representative office and they told me several times at local IT fairs that they had tried to reverse engineer the driver to make it work on other PCs! They caught up about a year later, but Unisys definitely enjoyed the head start :)

    EDITED: I took out a particular phrase, lest I offend someone; it was used amongst British programmers for when their programs behaved badly and core'd. But having looked up it's origins, I can see that it's a bit dodgy :)

    I miss Borland's compilers. They were a pleasure to use. Interesting anecdote about the Unisys-specific coding you did :)
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  • Reply 39 of 85
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,398member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by smalM View Post


    Yeah, Apple should drop the opportunity to win the complete youth of an emerging country of 75 million people to save some percent margin!

     



     


    If I was Apple, I'd be willing to sell at cost for that kind of deal if it came to that- but obviously it won't come to that. Even if they don't make a dollar selling all those iPads, the net positives would still be absolutely massive. 

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  • Reply 40 of 85

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post



    <...> 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.


     


    Microsoft is invincible !


     


     


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