Saudi Prince meets Tim Cook at Apple Park to talk app development, education

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited April 2018
At the tail end of his whistle stop tour of the U.S., Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday met with Tim Cook and other top Apple executives at the company's Cupertino headquarters to discuss new partnerships and education opportunities.


Source: Saudi Press Agency


After blazing a cross-country trail over the past three weeks, Prince Mohammed and several Saudi officials landed in California to meet with heads of major tech companies. This week the Prince, widely known as "MBS," visited Virgin founder Richard Branson and Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz before heading to Google's headquarters in Mountain View to chat with co-founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai. He spent some time with Apple's executives on Saturday.

The primary focus of the Apple meet and greet was to discuss technological solutions for "enriching the Arabic educational content in the classroom" and potentially creating an educational curriculum for Saudi schools.

This is not the first time Apple has been approached by heads of state, or in this case successor to the throne, to help modernize their respective educational systems. In 2013, then Turkish Prime Minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Apple as it mulled an educational investment in iPad.

Education has been an important pillar of Apple's business for decades and the company recently showed off its latest advancements in the area at an education-focused event in Chicago last month. Apple debuted a number of new software tools designed to fit the needs of teachers and students in a 21st century classroom, including the Everyone Can Create curriculum that combines technology and creativity to help students navigate several different disciplines, from math to science to coding.

At the Saturday meeting, the Prince also discussed partnerships for creating apps in Saudi Arabia and potential job opportunities for Saudi youth looking to train at Apple's headquarters. Technical presentations covering education, health and marketing were also conducted.

The meeting, which was held at Apple Park, gave the visiting dignitaries the chance to tour Steve Jobs Theater, where Apple showed off "modern voice applications," presumably its Siri virtual assistant.

This was Prince Mohammed's first trip to the U.S. since becoming heir to the throne. Following the Apple stop, he plans to meet with executives in Los Angeles to discuss bringing commercial cinema to Saudi Arabia.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 38
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    pscooter63jony0
  • Reply 2 of 38
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    Uh oh! I hope this thread don't get locked.
    cornchip
  • Reply 3 of 38
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    Went to Hollywood to talk cinema and everyone he met talked about their new cause or campaign they joined or created. “I am here to talk cinema. Have I come to the right place?”
    racerhomie3cornchip
  • Reply 4 of 38
    gmgravytraingmgravytrain Posts: 882member
    I'm willing to bet the schools in Saudi Arabia won't be choosing Chromebooks for student education. It will be iPads and MacBooks for them. I'm sure those schools can afford them and will see the value in buying Apple products. Apple will need to find some school districts around the world who can afford to go the Apple route. There might not be many who'll go with Apple but even a few is better than none. Saudi Arabia seems to be a very forward-thinking country, so I'm sure they'll spare no expense to educate their children.
  • Reply 5 of 38
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    gmgravytrain said:
    I'm willing to bet the schools in Saudi Arabia won't be choosing Chromebooks for student education. It will be iPads and MacBooks for them. I'm sure those schools can afford them and will see the value in buying Apple products. Apple will need to find some school districts around the world who can afford to go the Apple route. There might not be many who'll go with Apple but even a few is better than none. Saudi Arabia seems to be a very forward-thinking country, so I'm sure they'll spare no expense to educate their children.
    Is affordability really an issue? The US can afford to give offer children good educations and yet we still choose hinder the education of our most prized resource at every turn. I think it comes down to having leaders that see the longterm good of educating our youth even when they will likely never get a direct return on their efforts during their tenure as policy makers and community leaders.
    perpetual3StrangeDaysmacxpresspscooter63dewmejony0
  • Reply 6 of 38
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,732member
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Politicians, generally speaking, are elected.  Last I checked there are no elections in Saudi Arabia and the Prince is in power because of his bloodline.
    williamlondonlkruppasdasdmariowinco
  • Reply 7 of 38
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    canukstorm said:
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Politicians, generally speaking, are elected.  Last I checked there are no elections in Saudi Arabia and the Prince is in power because of his bloodline.
    Leaders.
  • Reply 8 of 38
    equality101equality101 Posts: 1member
    Any one notice how there are no women on the side of the prince. Those sort of countries think men are the all in and end all. When they talk about education opptunities they really mean ‘MALE educational oppunities’ Women there don’t get ‘educated’
  • Reply 9 of 38
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Any one notice how there are no women on the side of the prince. Those sort of countries think men are the all in and end all. When they talk about education opptunities they really mean ‘MALE educational oppunities’ Women there don’t get ‘educated’
    You need better news sources. Mohammad bin Salman is a beacon of social reform in SA.

    mwhitepscooter63
  • Reply 10 of 38
    zimmermannzimmermann Posts: 337member
    equality101 said:
    Any one notice how there are no women on the side of the prince. Those sort of countries think men are the all in and end all. When they talk about education opptunities they really mean ‘MALE educational oppunities’ Women there don’t get ‘educated’
    Ik Oman, where I went fore holidays, education (and healthcare by the way) was free for man and women alike. The country was investing in women as an important workforce. 
  • Reply 11 of 38
    irnchrizirnchriz Posts: 1,617member
    Another backward regime but they buy weapons from us so that makes them good guys. If they were in Saudi Arabia Tim’s neck would be on the chopping block for being homosexual.
    edited April 2018 williamlondonsirozhalkruppdewmecornchip
  • Reply 12 of 38
    sirozhasirozha Posts: 801member
    gmgravytrain said:
    I'm willing to bet the schools in Saudi Arabia won't be choosing Chromebooks for student education. It will be iPads and MacBooks for them. I'm sure those schools can afford them and will see the value in buying Apple products. Apple will need to find some school districts around the world who can afford to go the Apple route. There might not be many who'll go with Apple but even a few is better than none. Saudi Arabia seems to be a very forward-thinking country, so I'm sure they'll spare no expense to educate their children.
    Saudi Arabia is a forward looking country? I guess Nazi Germany was a very forward looking country then. 
  • Reply 13 of 38
    sirozhasirozha Posts: 801member
    irnchriz said:
    Another backward regime but they buy weapons from us so that makes them good guys. If they were in Saudi Arabia Tim’s neck would be on the chopping block for being homosexual.
    Hopefully, MBS will start changing certain things.  But, there are plenty of religious conservatives there that will probably try to stop his reforms. If anything starts changing there, it will take them centuries to become a society of tolerance. 
  • Reply 14 of 38
    sirozhasirozha Posts: 801member
    ireland said:
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Politicians, generally speaking, are elected.  Last I checked there are no elections in Saudi Arabia and the Prince is in power because of his bloodline.
    Leaders.
    MBS is not in power yet. He is a hope of many for a change in Saudi Arabia when he ascends the throne.

    Saudi royals have no choice, as the kingdom can't exist on oil exports alone. Their coffers are running out of cash due to a low price on oil and due to the energy independence that the US has achieved in recent years. The Saudi royal family doesn't want to have an Arab Spring in their kingdom. 

    The reason that Sergey Brin met with him is to have a leverage vis-a-vis more favorable attitude toward Jews by the Saudi royal family. Tim met with him for a similar reason but vis-vis homosexuals. 

    Both Sergey and Tim realize what a backward and radical regime currently rules Saudi Arabia. These meetings are about building relationships for the future when MBS becomes King. 
    edited April 2018
  • Reply 15 of 38
    calebbenbekkecalebbenbekke Posts: 33member
    It won't happen. Why? It is all about the environment. Thats why. Put any intelligent Arab to a more supporting and free environment you can have Steve Jobs. But if you put the same guy in Syria or in Turkey, you will have, well, a guy. Just a guy. Not Steve jobs. So, its about the environment not the brillant individuals.
  • Reply 16 of 38
    calebbenbekkecalebbenbekke Posts: 33member
    Soli said:
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Any one notice how there are no women on the side of the prince. Those sort of countries think men are the all in and end all. When they talk about education opptunities they really mean ‘MALE educational oppunities’ Women there don’t get ‘educated’
    You need better news sources. Mohammad bin Salman is a beacon of social reform in SA.

    No. He is just doing what he has been told by the powers that put them there in the first place. So called reforms are not "internally generated." Meaning Saudi people were not asking for those reforms, though they love a somewhat more free Turkey. Maybe externally stimulated. Check Adam Curtis from BBC for more.
  • Reply 17 of 38
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    sirozha said:
    ireland said:
    jkichline said:
    How refreshing to see a politician looking ahead to investing education, job creation, and international trade.
    Politicians, generally speaking, are elected.  Last I checked there are no elections in Saudi Arabia and the Prince is in power because of his bloodline.
    Leaders.
    The reason that Sergey Brin met with him is to have a leverage vis-a-vis more favorable attitude toward Jews by the Saudi royal family. Tim met with him for a similar reason but vis-vis homosexuals.
    While I agree with the sentiment of your thinking that wasn't why Tim met him. Why they met is in the article. SA wants to modernise education and Apple met because they want an Apple logo on every device in every SA school.
    edited April 2018
  • Reply 18 of 38
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,077member
    gmgravytrain said:
    I'm willing to bet the schools in Saudi Arabia won't be choosing Chromebooks for student education. It will be iPads and MacBooks for them. I'm sure those schools can afford them and will see the value in buying Apple products. Apple will need to find some school districts around the world who can afford to go the Apple route. There might not be many who'll go with Apple but even a few is better than none. Saudi Arabia seems to be a very forward-thinking country, so I'm sure they'll spare no expense to educate their children.
    MBS "We would like 100,000 Gold iPads...   No No not the color gold.   Real Gold like the original Apple Watch Edition"
    radarthekat
  • Reply 19 of 38
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    irnchriz said:
     If they were in Saudi Arabia Tim’s neck would be on the chopping block for being homosexual.
      His job is to make money for Apple. I'm sure that he can put his personal feelings aside for the good of the stockholders.
  • Reply 20 of 38
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Any one notice how there are no women on the side of the prince.
    And? You’d prefer he have his harem with him?
    When they talk about education opptunities they really mean ‘MALE educational oppunities’ Women there don’t get ‘educated’
    So… do something about it?

    Equality is a false god, by the way.
    It is all about the environment. Thats why. Put any intelligent Arab to a more supporting and free environment you can have Steve Jobs. But if you put the same guy in Syria or in Turkey, you will have, well, a guy. Just a guy. Not Steve jobs. So, its about the environment not the brillant individuals.
    No, sorry, the “blank slate” bullshit that communists try to push was disproven about a century ago. People are not, and do not see themselves as, “interchangeable parts.“
    edited April 2018 sflocalpscooter63
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