Tim Cook to visit Turkish president this week, may discuss $4B iPad deal
Apple CEO Tim Cook will meet with Turkish President President Abdullah G?l on Tuesday local time, with rumors claiming the topic of discussion will be a potential iPad in education deal worth somewhere between $3 billion and $4 billion.
Apple VP John Couch (right) discusses the FATIH education initiative with Turkish President Abdullah G?l (left).
Source: President of Turkey's official website
Continuing a mini world tour that has seen meetings with two heads of state in as many days, Cook and an accompanying delegation will next visit Turkish President Abdullah G?l on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The announcement was made on Monday via the president's official webpage.
While topics up for discussion remain unknown, some believe Cook and G?l will talk about Turkey's "FATIH Project," which looks to replace traditional classroom teaching tools with advanced equipment like Apple's iPad. A report from December claimed the two would meet in February.
Cook's meeting comes almost one year to the day after Apple's VP of Education John Couch met with G?l to discuss the country's education program. That meeting was followed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters to get a better understanding of the company's iPad in education technology before putting out a call for bids for his FATIH Project.
According to reports, the initial phase of the high-tech education initiative includes the purchase of 10.6 million tablets, with an add-on option to acquire another 2 to 2.5 million units over a four-year period. Total cost of the plan comes in at between $2 billion and $4 billion.
Cook's visit coincides with the opening of Turkey's first Apple Store, a 21,500-square-foot outlet located in Instanbul's Zorlu Center. Apple is growing its presence in the region and in October opened the doors to its Online Apple Store.
Apple VP John Couch (right) discusses the FATIH education initiative with Turkish President Abdullah G?l (left).
Source: President of Turkey's official website
Continuing a mini world tour that has seen meetings with two heads of state in as many days, Cook and an accompanying delegation will next visit Turkish President Abdullah G?l on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The announcement was made on Monday via the president's official webpage.
While topics up for discussion remain unknown, some believe Cook and G?l will talk about Turkey's "FATIH Project," which looks to replace traditional classroom teaching tools with advanced equipment like Apple's iPad. A report from December claimed the two would meet in February.
Cook's meeting comes almost one year to the day after Apple's VP of Education John Couch met with G?l to discuss the country's education program. That meeting was followed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters to get a better understanding of the company's iPad in education technology before putting out a call for bids for his FATIH Project.
According to reports, the initial phase of the high-tech education initiative includes the purchase of 10.6 million tablets, with an add-on option to acquire another 2 to 2.5 million units over a four-year period. Total cost of the plan comes in at between $2 billion and $4 billion.
Cook's visit coincides with the opening of Turkey's first Apple Store, a 21,500-square-foot outlet located in Instanbul's Zorlu Center. Apple is growing its presence in the region and in October opened the doors to its Online Apple Store.
Comments
Three word, Mr. Cook: Cash up front.
May?
10.6 Million iPads for the initial phase. That's a lot of iPads.
Imagine how many iPads will be purchase for the whole project.
The LA Unified School District iPad project is a great success.
Apple needs to shine bright in this Turkey project. I wonder if they are using Pearson for the curriculum.
You forgot the /s
http://o.dailycaller.com/all/2013-12-02-l-a-schools-ipad-giveaway-continues-to-be-a-hilarious-epic-disaster?ref=&mediaKey=dailycaller&width=960&height=1549&origin=http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/02/l-a-schools-ipad-giveaway-continues-to-be-a-hilarious-epic-disaster/&size=small&oswts=1391473902145
Tim Cook better make sure he gets all his money up front. I've heard there is an awful lot of corruption going on in the Turkish government. I personally think Cook should pass on this project as it sounds too good to be true.
Pass on a $10B deal with a nation that has a GDP approaching $1T? Let's not even talk about how this looks to other nations in the region. You've said some naive things before, but this takes the cake.
Here's an update on LA Unified:
http://articles.latimes.com/2014/jan/14/local/la-me-lausd-20140115
I hope Tim Cook is not that naive. Turkey won't buy any iPad without Erdogan directly or indirectly financially benefiting from that deal.
Tim: "Oh, yeah... One more thing..."
In the 80s Apple dominated the education market, but left Microsoft the business market. In the end, this meant that Microsoft won as the ecosystem was driven by the business market. This time Apple is dominating the business market and the education market. This means that as time goes by people will be using iPads for education and work. They will become invested in the iOS ecosystem, and thus be more likely to buy an iPad for a personal tablet because it is what they are used to and invested in.
The only saving grace for Android is their domination of the cell phone market, primarily the low end. This gives a large base of people exposure to Android, but this is also where Androids openness and free app environment hurts them. Having an Android phone doesn't really force an investment in the ecosystem, and because Google is trying to be everywhere it also doesn't lock you into the Android ecosystem.
Microsoft is struggling. Their only leverage at all is Office, but it is a big lever. However, Microsoft is playing a dangerous game. The longer that they keep Office Surface only the more and more that businesses and schools are finding alternatives to Office. So much so, that if Microsoft holds out for too long they might just find that a significant portion of their customer base may no longer care to pay for Office. If that happens ...