B ack in August, BusinessWeekis Charles Haddad wrote Appleis obituary in the education market. Citing the lemming effect and parents who think that public schools are vocational schools, Mr. Haddad took a pessimistic view of Appleis future in the market it helped to create back in the 70s. That has been a view shared by many in the last couple of years, but a new feature article from BusinessWeek suggests that Appleis death may have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, according to Alex Salkever, the reportis author, Apple may be in the midst of a comeback.
The report looks at recent trends in education sales, Appleis success in higher education, and the strides Apple has made in achieving price parity, especially in the portable market. Wrap that up in a nice, neat package, says BusinessWeek, and things are looking up. The report also quotes IDC, which says that Apple could capture 30% of the education market during the next 12 months. From BusinessWeek:
Yet, a closer look at the situation shows that Apple may be on the verge of a revival in a sector that accounted for 11 million PC sales worldwide in 2002, according to tech tracker IDC. While its overall education sales were down in the quarter, Apple reported that sales to colleges and universities were the best in seven years.
CATCHING UP. Moreover, an October survey by education technology tracker Quality Education Data (QED), a unit of Scholastic Corp., predicted that over the next 12 months Macs should account for 30% of PCs purchased by K-12 school districts across the country vs. Dellis 37%, as administrators opt to buy more laptops. That would be up nine points from fiscal 2003 and would be the highest figure for Apple in four years.
If that prediction pans out, it could foretell a long-awaited reversal of fortune for Apple in its former stronghold. Pair that with Appleis good news in higher ed, and the Mac could be about to bounce back at school.
The two page report has lots of details and information. We recommend it as a very good read.