Tim Cook will reportedly travel to Turkey next year for the opening of Apple's first store in the country on February 4, reports emlakkulisi.com [Google Translate]. The store is located in the city of Istanbul at the new multi-use Zorlu Center and has undergone construction over the past few years, and was reported to open in the beginning of 2014.
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According to report, Cook will also meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gül during his visit, with talks most likely centering around the $4.5 billion iPad education initiative that was discussed between Apple executives and the country's president earlier this year. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also visited Apple in May as a part of the ongoing negotiations. In total, the program would reportedly provide 10.6 million tablets to Turkish schoolchildren.
Apple has been making a significant push into the Turkish market for quite some time, with having listed initial job postings for stores in the country last November. The company also launched the iTunes Store for music and movies in Turkey last year.
Top Rated Comments
Retail store is going to be right in the middle of Zorlu Center, a nearly finished massive project that consists of a hotel, residence, a shopping centre and an art centre. Its built on 102.000 m2 land area.
This is what it looks like from the outside
And this is gonna be the location of the store
And this is how the store looks like today I personally took last two
It goes two floors down and it has this mysterious massive door with moving led lights on just to keep it flashy and maybe to generate some more interest.
Sorry if there are too many images. Hope I could be helpful.
You thought we were talking about politics? We were quoting a classic novelty song made popular when it was covered a few years ago by They Might Be Giants a band that is wildly popular in the tech community.
And I believe no one here will care about how the ministry is wasting money on irrational tablet projects while there are schools without books and decent heating and such. We call it politics. Nothing new.
So here's an update: Apple is eliminated from the bidding process. Reason is "financial inadequacy".
Hey, thanks for the reality check. I had the greatest time ever in Turkey, and would go back in a second if I could.