Apple could sign a potential iPad education deal in Turkey worth over $4 billion

[RaduTyrsina]

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AppleInsider’s staff has caught an interesting report from Turkish language publication emlakkulisi.com. According to it, Tim Cook and some top Apple executives will be in Turkey next year to meet with President Abdullah Gül to discuss about the "FATIH Project," which has been created to replace blackboards and textbooks with modern computing devices, such as the iPad. Back in May, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has paid a visit to Apple’s headquarters, probably to see if Apple’s latest technological advancements were worthy to consider iPads for the FATIH 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, the publication claims Cook is also planning to visit 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-like cap structure similar to the famous Fifth Avenue store in New York.

At the moment, nothing has been made official, but if Turkey indeed looks to include iPads in such an important education deal, then probably more countries will follow, once a successful example has been set. Overall, Apple could deliver for the Turkish government more than 13 million iPads over a four-year period.

Source: AppleInsider