Shane Cole
Apple has pledged $100 million in the form of iPads, desktop and laptop computers, and other educational tools to President Obama's ConnectED initiative that seeks to connect 99 percent of America's students to high-speed internet.
"In an unprecedented commitment for the company, Apple has pledged $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products along with content and professional development to enrich learning in disadvantaged schools," the White House said in a release announcing the contributions.
President Obama formally announced Apple's contribution alongside similar donations from AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and Microsoft on Tuesday afternoon. Apple's participation in the program first came to light last week during Obama's State of the Union address.
At the time, Apple said in a statement that they were "proud to join President Obama in this historic initiative to transform America's schools" and that "Apple has a long history in education, and we have pledged to contribute MacBooks, iPads, software and our expertise to support the ConnectED project."
The ConnectED program was unveiled by the White House last June, with partial funding to come from the FCC's existing E-Rate program which provides discounted telecommunications services to schools and libraries. Additional funds would come from donations and partnerships with American telecom and technology companies like Apple.
Joining Apple in the initiative are AT&T, Autodesk, Microsoft, O'Reilly Media, Sprint, and Verizon. Together, the companies will contribute more than $750 million to kickstart program, while the FCC will provide $2 billion through E-Rate and the Department of Agriculture will add another $10 million in grants.
- Apple - Pledged $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products along with content and professional development tools to enrich learning in disadvantaged schools.
- AT&T - Pledged over $100 million to provide middle-school students free Internet connectivity for educational devices over their wireless network for three years.
- Autodesk - Pledged to expand the company's "Design the Future" program to be available to every secondary school in the country - offering for free over $250 million in value.
- Microsoft - Committed to launch a substantial affordability program open to all U.S. public schools by deeply discounting the price of its Windows operating system, which will substantially bring down the cost of Windows-based devices.
- O'Reilly Media - Partnering with Safari Books Online to make over $100 million in educational content and tools available, for free, to every school in America.
- Sprint - Committed to offer free wireless service for up to 50,000 low-income high school students over the next four years, valued at $100 million.
- Verizon - Announced a multi-year program to support the ConnectED vision through up to $100 million in cash and in-kind commitments.
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16 Comments
Watch AAPL stockholders and analysts complain about "losing" $100M of "their" money to kids. They'll find a way to crush Apple for doing something really good with their extra cash.
Well done, Apple. Thank you. You are a class act, as always.
It's about time Apple gave something back in the form of charity. As an Apple shareholder, I certainly approve of it. They can give back even more as far as I'm concerned. Apple is such a tight-fisted company, sitting on a mountain of wealth and keeping it in the bank for themselves isn't right. At least put it to some good use if they don't want to give it to shareholders or grow the company. It's really difficult to understand Apple's management because they never tell anyone what their long-term goals are for the company. Apple has such a lousy reputation as a company and maybe a bit of good will might help improve their image somewhat. Apple should come up with some plan where a certain amount of money is given to charitable organizations every year relative to how much the company is profiting. Contributions to education and medical research would be a good place to start. For a company of Apple's wealth $100 million is a drop in the bucket. They could easily afford to double or triple that amount. Apple added about $10 billion in reserve cash to its personal piggy bank this last financial quarter.
Watch all the Republican AAPL stockholders and analysts complain about "losing" $100M of "their" money to kids. They'll find a way to crush Apple for doing something really good with their extra cash.
Why would that be a wrong thing to say and why would it only be Republicans saying it?
Would it be unreasonable to expect Obama to take some positive action to reduce the crazy current tax implications on repatriating overseas earned income when Apple does generous things like this?
[quote name="rob53" url="/t/161885/apple-to-contribute-100m-to-connected-high-speed-internet-for-education-drive-report#post_2467306"]Watch AAPL stockholders and analysts complain about "losing" $100M of "their" money to kids. They'll find a way to crush Apple for doing something really good with their extra cash.[/quote] They aren't donating any money. They're donating product and services which could have retailed for up to $100M. That's the smarter way and more common way to do it too. You get the publicity and goodwill while still getting your own product into schools that otherwise may have done without, or perhaps budget-wise have chosen a solution from a competitor.