AppleInsider StaffFor the second time this year, Apple Computer has won a significant contract for the large-scale deployment of laptops, this time in the state of Maine, MacNN reports.
Apple will provide "portable computing devices with suitable basic applications" for all middle school students and teachers, along with upgraded wireless networks for all participating schools, appropriate server capacity, training and technical support, the report says.
Earlier this year, Apple was chosen to supply Henrico County's middle school students with laptops, despite a lower bid from Dell — a deal involving nearly 13,000 laptops for $15.8 million.
"This award is a final decision, subject to State Purchases Review Committee approval and final legislative approval of the Department's budget," said representatives from the State of Maine. The State will now enter into negotiations with Apple in order to finalize the terms and conditions of the agreement for Apple's services and equipment.
Under the current timelines and subject to final legislative approval of the department's budget, the Department said that it plans to deploy new laptop computers to teachers, librarians, principals and technology coordinators in the summer of 2006 to begin preparing for the upcoming 2006-7 school year, according to MacNN. New laptop computers for all grade 7 and 8 public middle school students will reportedly be issued at the start of the school year.
Overall, the contract will be for an estimated 36,000 laptops.
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24 Comments
Apple will provide "portable computing devices with suitable basic applications" for all middle school students and teachers[/B]
Ahhh, "portable computing devices" is much easier to roll of the tongue than as-of-yet announced "MacBooks."
Maybe I should move to Maine?
You have to figure this is either A) Apple wowing them with the un-announced MacBooks or B) Apple saying "We'll have at least 36,000 new, unopened, fully-supported iBook G4s sitting around in the next couple of months that you can have for next-to-nothing because we'll be intro'ing MacBooks"
Either way.
In addition to the usual suspects, Mail, Safari, and iCal, I wonder what additional applications might represent "...with suitable basic applications"? Presumably there's a word processor beyond TextEdit. So, AppleWorks? iWork? Or, MS Office?? There's no mention of the software bundle in the MacNN article. Hmmm....
Get ready for the next wave of 2-month waiting lists after Apple announces the new iBook (MacBook... whatever).
36,000 are slready spoken for.