Anatolia News Agency reports that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan visited Apple yesterday as part of a tour of Silicon Valley ahead of the purchase of 10.6 million tablets for schools in our neighboring country. Tayyip Erdoğan also visited both Microsoft and Google.
His visit to Apple confirmed the rumors that the Turkish government wants to incorporate almost 11 million iPads into its school units, with Apple wanting to win this market very much, as it sees Turkey as a country that can bring it large profits and strengthen its position in Asia.
Erdogan himself said:
We wanted to see the latest developments in the information technology sector before we launched the Fatih bid by visiting the Silicon Valley because we plan to realize a similar project in Istanbul. Our first aim is to produce 10,600,000 tablets as part of the Fatih project, which will be followed by the production of 2 million to 2.5 million tablets.
In February a series of senior Apple executives, including John Couch, Apple's vice president of education, had traveled to Turkey and talked for several hours with the President of Turkey Abdullah Gül. Abdullah Gül also visited Apple in 2012.
As can be understood, the two sides have been engaged in intense negotiations for almost a year, with many believing that the agreement on iPads is only part of a larger one that also foresees the opening of Apple Stores in Turkey.
Apple, since last December when it opened the Turkish iTunes Store, has shown great interest in the country, and sources say it has already begun training staff who will later be incorporated into the Apple Stores that will open there.
Dimitrios Georgoulas @ GreekAppleNews
