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Henrico Says No to Apple's iBook Lease Renewal Offer

by , 10:30 AM EDT, July 27th, 2004

The Henrico County, Virginia School Board has turned down an offer by Apple Computer to renew and extend a lease on the iBook computers the school system gives to middle and high school students.

The The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday that Apple had offered to upgrade the existing 18,000 iBooks presently being used for 23,000 new laptops if the school system would renew the contract. The current contract ends in 2005 for the high school computers and 2006 for middle school students.

The main reason the school system turned down the offer was the high cost of a one-year opt-out clause the board had requested. In addition, Chairman Stuart Myers said the laptops are in good shape and don't need replacing and the entire program will be evaluated this year to determine any needed changes.

Mr. Myers said the new lease would not have cost any more on an annual basis and required no up-front cash payment. Henrico's school system now pays more than US$5 million a year to lease iBooks.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1960 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Subject: Foiled Again

Chairman Stuart Myers said the laptops are in good shape and don't need replacing...

===

Blast! Having a quality product backfires again!

Close Name:mahuti -   TMO Staff Posts: 371 Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Subject: The real reason

The real reason apple loses market share. Their "junkyard installed user base" does not rise like the rest of the craptabulous PC companies.

Close Name:Bryan -   TMO Staff Posts: 7331 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject:

This isn't as bad as it may sound at first blush. The district basically turned down an early offer of a new contract from Apple, which is far different from refusing to renew come the contract's expiration.

The above two posts are also pertinent. It's amazing to think that laptops used by kids for a couple of years could still be in working order.

View Name:Guest
Subject: "the iBook's are in good condition."
Close Name:pyxl8 Posts: 171 Joined: 24 Dec 2003
Subject: Why would they lie about the condition of the ibooks?!

Quote
Guest wrote:
Pardon me if I find humor in that statement. Several years ago, I was employed by an Apple Specialist who contracted with henrico to repair a lot of the ibooks. in several short weeks, we replaced over 1200 cd-rom drives and top cases. The reality of the program was that the kids were treating the machines like used text books. If the machines are in good condition, I'd be somewhat amazed. Not to mention the fact that I'd love to buy the people repairing them a drink. They must be turning screws 18 hours a day.


Funny? Funny how?

In June, the school board announced the results of a commisioned survey that "A staggering 85.8 percent of all survey respondents in Henrico support the one-to-one laptop initiative in the county’s high schools," and "It revealed 88 percent of parents were in favor of continuing the initiative at the high school level and 78 percent of parents were in favor of continuation in middle schools."

Pretty positive response concidering the level of laptop abuse you seem to know all about. So should we assume that school board Chairman Stuart Myers is lying when he said "the laptops are in good shape and don't need replacing"? If the ibooks were getting so trashed, why wouldn't he jump at the chance to get NEW ones, hmm? He-- and most of the parents-- sounds pretty pleased with the ibook initiative so far.

Besides, your interchanging of "we" and "they" in your post leads me to doubt the veracity of your claim anyway.

-Ken

PS: Bryan, PLEASE fix that headline before CNET gets wind of it!

Close Name:jacrav Posts: 268 Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Subject: How many years is “several” ?

If I’m not mistaken, the iBook deal with Henrico County is about 2 years old …

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