“A growing political scandal in Turkey threatens to involve the country’s prime minister, a key player in a program to purchase $4 billion worth of iPads for thousands of schools, which in turn was a major motive for Apple’s plans to open a retail store in the country early next year,” Gary Allen reports for ifoAppleStore. “Three ministers resigned Christmas night in the face of corruption allegations, and they called on prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to also resign. If Erdogan does leave office, it could put the iPad deal in jeopardy, and leave the nearly-finished and high-profile Apple store with vastly fewer customers.”
“It was Erdogan who visited Apple’s headquarters last year, reportedly to negotiate the purchase of 12 million iPads for the country’s schools,” Allen reports. “It’s believed that as part of the iPad purchase agreement, the company also agreed to open a retail store in Istanbul, despite the country’s minuscule market share for Apple products. CEO Tim Cook will reportedly fly to Turkey next February to finalize the iPad deal with Turkish officials.”
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