
Apple CEO Tim Cook along with select executives will reportedly visit Turkey in February to discuss a potential iPad in education deal which is worth over $4 billion. According to the Turkish language publication Emlakkulisi, Cook will be in Turkey next year to meet with President Abdullah Gül over the country’s so-called “FAITH Project,” which seeks to replace blackboards and textbooks with modern computing devices.
For those of you who didn’t know, in May, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Apple headquarters to inspect the tech giant’s latest technological advancements before putting out a bit for his FAITH 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, Cook is said to be planning a visit to 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 structure which closely resembles the famous Fifth Avenue store in New York City.
The Cupertino California tech giant is continuously pushing beyond established markets such as US and Europe, trying to concentrate efforts on breaking into developing economy. Istanbul’s retail Apple Store will be Apple’s second official retail presence in Turkey, following October’s debut of the Turkish Online Apple Store.
Source: Emlakkulisi via AppleInsider
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