Apple Denies Customers Education iMac

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In an echo of the furore that met the release of the original eMac, Apple has withdrawn its new education-only iMac from sale to individuals. The new product was available for purchase by individual students and teachers through Apple's resellers and online and high street stores, but this has now been changed. Apple will now only sell the new education iMac to institutions.

A note to dealers reveals: "Please be advised that the iMac for education is no longer available to education individuals. Effective immediately this product is only available to education institutions. The product will be removed from the Apple Education Individual Stores from 12 July 2006."

The move to withdraw the Mac, which costs £544 (excluding VAT), has not been explained, though the product was only ever aimed at the education market.

It's an odd reflection of what occurred when Apple launched its education-only eMac. The company experienced a cacophony of requests from potential customers who wanted to buy what was at that time Apple's most affordable Mac.

So strong was this demand that Apple eventually relented and began selling the eMac to the general public.

News source: Macworld UK

(4 replies) #1 Gerry on 14 Jul 2006 - 02:46

Yep, I saw this coming, Apple is just wanting more money. This would have been a option for Apple users, because not all students are rich people and most can pay for the normal Apple packages, but of cause companies are just after money to fill there pockets and Apple is no different.

Gerry

#1.1 nwBen on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:05

And just how do they gain money from this? They lose money from doing this.

Clearly you have a problem with Apple, so if you don't like them as a company, please do not comment.

#1.2 shift4 on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:38

Quote - nwBen said @ #1.1

By forcing you to purchase the more expensive Macs if you want one. If these are cheaper than the general market computers, guess what? They're doing exactly what he said.

#1.3 nwBen on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:00

No, they're still losing money. People arent going to buy a more expensive one because the budget one is now a restricted purchase. They'll wait for another budget system, or if they really want one, will order one through their institute.

#1.4 Gerry on 15 Jul 2006 - 05:00

Most people doesn't know how to order from there school or doesn't know that option is there. It would have been a lot better if they put it in stores but have a student ID only system.

(3 replies) #2 kickenchicken360 on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:18

why cant we comment? were just posting our opinionns

#2.1 MarkMS on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:30

I think what nwBen is trying to say is that don't talk about Apple being greedy when they were selling the iMac at a bargain. The educational iMac was aimed at students and classrooms ONLY, and it seems as people were buying them without being screened if they were students or teachers and possibly selling them to make a decent profit.

Last year when OS X.4 came out, I headed over to the Apple.com store and pre-ordered it at the student price. I expected to get an email telling me to fax my schedule or university ID, but didn't. I guess they were hoping that people would use the honor system. Seems to me that this had to have happened because people didn't care about the honor system. Only God knows how many cheated on the form and bought at the student rate only to resell it and make some $$$.

I really had my eye on the edu. iMac so I can use BootCamp/Paralells and just have some fun with the new Intel chips. I guess I'll have to live with the iBook for a little longer until I absolutely need a new machine.

#2.2 shift4 on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:42

True but if that was really the reason they would have tightened up the checks. Sure it may play a part in it but it's not the full reason why. They probably just expected less students to purchase it and then some accountant realized how much they're losing had those students been purchasing retail.

#2.3 McG on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:26

^no, what MarkMS said hit the nail right on the head--it's the only reason for this move. Tightening up the checks has nothing to do with this.

(2 replies) #3 naap51stang on 14 Jul 2006 - 03:56

Apple bean counters found out how much profit they could make doing it the other way. Hat's off to them.
The purpose of a BUSINESS is to MAKE money......if they LOOSE money, they won't be in business long.
Unlike a lot of people, good for them! Unless you want to go to a stupid socialist system where nobody gives a crap what products are produced, how they do their jobs.....then doing what apple did makes PERFECT sense!

#3.1 McG on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:28

I think you mean LOSE money, and I have no idea what you meant in your last sentence.

#3.2 Smigit on 14 Jul 2006 - 06:20

Yes but if you price educational products right you should be making money in the long run. It's like the Xbox where you make an initial loss on the product in order to make profits later on. You arent guaranteed it but utually it works out.

If a student buy an Apple notebook now they will use it for the next 2 years and will most likely remain loyal to Apple after they leave uni a few years down the track as that is what they have been using for all their studies and productivity. It ensures sales once the student has left studies and apple makes more money.

Now if a student cant afford an Apple notebook or the windows based ones are cheaper a student may well just go for the standard laptop. They will use this for the next few years and thats what they will be sticking to for work. Keep in mind that for most people any computer hardware purchased while being a student will be their first purchase. Look at how many people love Nintendo despite not owning their console based on it being their 1st gaming experience when they were young. If you can grab them while they are young you will find many consumers will be loyal for life.

Apple will still sell alot of laptops to students but they have removed a great incentive for them to do so. Sure immediatly it MAY mean more profits (althought not necessarily), in the long run it doesnt seem like the best of moves. Apple is still behind in the computer world to windows based PC's so its still crucial for them to geat as many users onto their platform if they want to succede in the long run and an educational pricing scheme is one way to do it.

(2 replies) #4 Rudy on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:28

Apple is a company, they don't care about the people on a budget, if you dont have enough money for a mac then buy a pc

#4.1 virtorio on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:39

or a Mac Mini

#4.2 MarkMS on 14 Jul 2006 - 04:50

or a MacBook. At around $1100 + tax/shipping, it's not that bad. You get a core duo 512MB RAM and have the option to boot any OS legally and with no major headaches. Only thing that people may have a problem with is that it only has 64MB of shared video memory. Not bad for about 95% of the consumers, but for the heavy movie editors/professional photographers there's the MacBook Pro with 256MB video RAM and the upcoming Mac Pro (aka Power Mac).

#5 DirtyLarry on 14 Jul 2006 - 05:00

Damn, this news really, really sucks for my friend.
He was literally going to pick one up this weekend as he just moved into a new apartment and wanted to get a new set up.
Not the smartest move I do not think, as I imagine they could have sold a few more if they just kept it as it was.

#6 Smigit on 14 Jul 2006 - 06:03

Id say it's a money decision not a decision based on people abusing the system. If they need to verify student identities all that was needed would be to pull the products from the apple store website and require students to buy the products in store with a valid photo ID card which I'm assuming most fulltime students have elsewhere in the world (we do here).

Yes, there are still ways around it like getting a student to buy it on your behalf but most people wont scoop to this and other companies can cope with it. I'd say it's to do with money even if it means less students are buying apple products now. They may be selling less but perhaps they werent making a large enough cut on the hardware and noone was buying apple owned software after market or something. I duno, it would require an official statement.

(2 replies) #7 Adster on 14 Jul 2006 - 07:27

I don't know about the UK but here in the US the iMac for Education is still $899.

#7.1 roadwarrior on 14 Jul 2006 - 08:37

I just checked the Education store and it's not listed anymore. Perhaps you are looking at a cached copy of the page.

#7.2 Adster on 14 Jul 2006 - 17:57

Quote - roadwarrior said @ #7.1

Possibly right, but even browsing the page on campus just now I still show the $899 Educational iMac.

Strange?

#8 C_Guy on 14 Jul 2006 - 15:21

Like people need another reason not to buy a Mac. This will have very little impact on the market.

Why? Because if you are actually a qualified user according to Apple's "terms" you should be able to get one from your educational institution without a problem.

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