Neil Hughes
Schools buying iPads for faculty or students can now receive an extra year of AppleCare+ warranty coverage, bringing it to three total years of protection, for the same $99 flat price.
AppleInsider was tipped to the change by Twitter user @pxlate on Wednesday. When checking out of an Apple educational institution store online, buyers are presented with a yellow box offering them the ability to add AppleCare+ to their order.
But instead of the regular two-year coverage period, AppleCare+ for institutional buyers now carries three full years of warranty protection. The price is unchanged at $99.
The change is limited solely to institutional buyers, and does not apply to education purchases made for personal use by students or faculty. AppleCare+ coverage for the general public also still carries a two-year iPad coverage period for $99.
The expanded warranty coverage represents an additional push by Apple to maintain its dominance among tablets in the education market. The company boasted in its most recent quarterly earnings report that the iPad had over 95 percent share of the U.S. education tablet market.
"The focus in education is on penetration, is on getting more schools to buy, and my belief is the match has been lit," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. "It's very clear to the educators that have studied this that student achievement is higher with iPad in the classroom than without it. And so I'm confident we've got a really great start in education far beyond the U.S. now."
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
19 Comments
So, to be clear, you get 12 months anyway so the 3 years is adding 3 years to the 1 year, so in total, 4 years?
Nope, 3 years total. Interestingly, I ordered some iPads for a school last week and received an email from Apple saying they were automatically upgrading my 2 year AppleCare to 3 years.
No. 3 months phone-in and 12 months warranty is standard. Applecare upgrades to 2 years phone-in and 24 months warranty. The educational institution Applecare upgrades to 3 years phone-in and 36 months warranty. It would be nice to offer this to educational purchases by faculty and students, as well as extending it to iPhones.
So, to be clear, you get 12 months anyway so the 3 years is adding 3 years to the 1 year, so in total, 4 years?
Yesterday's AppleCare+ really only added 1yr to the warranty, but now it adds 2yrs making it a total of 3yrs just like it does on the Mac (only with accidental added in).
[quote name="macxpress" url="/t/179183/apple-extends-ipad-applecare-coverage-to-3-years-for-educational-institutions#post_2528800"] Yesterday's AppleCare+ really only added 1yr to the warranty, but now it adds 2yrs making it a total of 3yrs just like it does on the Mac (only with accidental added in). [/quote] That's what confused me. My Apple care has always added 2 years to my 1 year at the end of the one year. So I had an additional 2, hence 3 in total. So I read now they make it three years Apple Care and assumed it's 4 total. So if it is 3 what's changed? Or is this specific and different for education?