As reported [Google translation] by Turkish blog Elma Dergisi, Apple executives including vice president for education John Couch met with Turkish president Abdullah Gül today to discuss several issues. The office of the Turkish president has also posted a photo and a brief video from the meeting.

john couch turkey
Turkish president Abdullah Gül at far left, Apple VP John Couch at far right

Among the primary topics addressed during the meeting was Turkey's tablet initiative, a $4.5 billion program to provide as many as 15 million tablets to Turkish schoolchildren. Apple has reportedly been pushing for the contract, but negotiations are said to still be underway.

Also discussed was the layout of the older Turkish "F-keyboard" on iOS devices, which has several keys located in the wrong positions.

Apple has been making a significant push in Turkey, launching the iTunes Store for music and movies there in December and hiring for future retail stores in the country. Gül had visited Apple headquarters last May and discussed many of the same issues included in today's meeting with Couch and other executives.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: Turkey
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Buy Now)
Related Forum: iPad

Top Rated Comments

JaySoul Avatar
132 months ago
That would be a delight.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghost187 Avatar
132 months ago
Woot woot, for my nation of origin
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ConCat Avatar
132 months ago
Crony capitalism.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Azathoth Avatar
132 months ago
A massive waste of funds, and the world's resources. Books are great: renewable, re-usable, don't use rare minerals (which we extract / exploit from African countries), don't become obsolete after a few years, don't get stolen, don't have screens to crack.

Hey, I'm a technology user, comp. sci. graduate, and currently an engineer working for a medical devices startup - but people, this insanity with making everything "digital" is costing us the world - literally and figuratively.

Turkey, nor any other country, needs iPads or much tablets in schools.

Of course Turkey is getting USD 1.14Billion in aid this year from the EU, so I guess they can use some of that money to buy iPads from Apple.

http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/instruments/funding-by-country/turkey/index_en.htm

----------


The general consensus where I'm from is that school is lame and boring, education is a vital part of our existence and its frustrating to see how terrible our system is, how badly it works and how little our Australian government cares about these issues.
I wish the Turkish people success, and hope that from it, others also see the importance of radically changing what needs to be changed.

So giving kids a new toy is going to make them behave?

Day one with iPad at school: "Cool we have an iPad"
Day forty with iPad at school: "Meh, school still sucks"

What needs to change is kid's perception and thereby parenting, not *giving* them more crap to fill up their lives.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Xikum Avatar
132 months ago
I'd be furious if my country spent $4.5 billion on giving iPads to children. What a waste of money. I refuse to believe that giving kids iPads will somehow result in an improvement to their education.

Physical books, jotters and other learning materials are far cheaper, more reliable, and proper.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
132 months ago
What a massive waste of public funds. They did a test in a British school and so many ipads were damaged, they are far too brittle and expensive to be used for education. Whats the point anyway? Its not like they will move on and get jobs in any area that will require use of an iPad!

There are countries where kids are taught to look after their stuff.

And it's quite daft to assume they would buy iPads to teach kids to use iPads. You use iPads to teach them maths, physics, languages, history, chemistry and so on and so on.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Leak Reveals Unified Volume Button and Mute Button

Monday March 20, 2023 8:33 am PDT by
As previously rumored, the next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a unified volume button and a mute button, according to leaked CAD images shared in a video on the Chinese version of TikTok and posted to Twitter by ShrimpApplePro. Instead of separate buttons for volume up and volume down, the iPhone 15 Pro models are expected to have a single elongated button for...
iOS 16

iOS 16.4 for iPhone Nearing Launch With These 5 New Features

Monday March 20, 2023 11:50 am PDT by
Apple says iOS 16.4 is coming in the spring, which began this week. In his Sunday newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the update should be released "in the next three weeks or so," meaning a public release is likely in late March or early April. iOS 16.4 remains in beta testing and introduces a handful of new features and changes for the iPhone. Below, we have recapped five new features ...
voice isolation

iOS 16.4 Adds Voice Isolation for Cellular Phone Calls

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:01 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 update that is set to be released to the public in the near future includes voice isolation for cellular calls, according to notes that Apple shared today. Apple says that Voice Isolation will prioritize your voice and block out the ambient noise around you, making for clearer phone calls where you can better hear the person you're chatting with and vice versa. Voice...
original iphone auction

Factory-Sealed Original iPhone Sells for $55,000 at Auction

Friday March 17, 2023 1:08 pm PDT by
A first-generation iPhone still sealed inside its box sold for $54,904 at auction, which is more than $54,000 over the original $599 price tag of the device when it was released in 2007. The original iPhone was put up for sale by RR Auction on behalf of a former Apple employee who purchased it back when it first came out. Back in February, an original, sealed iPhone sold for over $63,000,...
airpodsd 3 purple 4

iOS 16.4 Seemingly References New AirPods and AirPods Case

Tuesday March 21, 2023 11:43 am PDT by
The iOS 16.4 release candidate version that was provided to developers today appears to hint at a new set of AirPods that could be coming in the near future. According to @aaronp613, the beta features references to AirPods that have a model number of A3048 and an AirPods case with a model number of A2968. There have been no rumors that new AirPods are on the horizon, and it is early for...
iOS 16

Apple Seeds Release Candidate Versions of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 to Developers [Update: Public RC Available]

Tuesday March 21, 2023 10:25 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after the launch of the fourth betas. The RCs mark the final version of the software that will be provided to the public in the near future. Registered developers are able to download the iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 updates...
google bard

Google Opens Up Access to Bard AI Chatbot

Tuesday March 21, 2023 4:23 pm PDT by
Google today began allowing users to sign up to use Bard, its AI-powered chatbot that rivals Microsoft's Bing chatbot. First announced back in February, Bard is an experimental conversational AI service for Google Search. Those interested in Bard can join Google's waitlist to get access, and some users have reported getting invitation emails just hours after signing up. There are a long list ...
smart monitor m8 samsung

Deals: Samsung's iMac-Like Smart Monitor M8 Drops to Lowest Price of Year So Far With $250 Discount

Monday March 20, 2023 8:27 am PDT by
Samsung today kicked off a special "Discover Samsung" event, which will be a week-long savings event focusing on Samsung monitors, smartphones, TVs, appliances, and more. While some deals will stick around the entire week (through March 26), others will refresh every day. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Samsung. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small...