Apple’s new educational pricing not a clear win for schools
The mothership has taken a page from the cable companies in devising its new pricing structure for educational institutions. That is, if you’re among the few that want more stuff (for more money), it can be a better deal and not so much for those happy with the way things were.
MacNN, among a host of others, is reporting that Apple’s revised its education pricing policies from a multi-year, scaled, per-seat scheme to an annual tax. Previously, individual copies of OS X cost from $39 to $59 depending on volume and included the company’s iLife package, as well.
The new deal bundles OS X, iLife and, now, iWork together into a single package with sample pricing including:
• 25 seats for $899 ($39.96 per seat) per year
• 100 seats for $3,499 ($34.99 per seat) per year
• 500 seats for $14,999 ($30 per seat) per year
• 2,000 seats for $49,999 ($25 per seat) per year
• 10,000 seats for $199,999 ($20 per seat) per year
Further, Apple’s terms dictate that an institution’s entire installed based of Macs must be licensed. This holds true if the school wants to provide software for educator and student licenses, as well — blanket coverage.
There are two rubs here for schools: 1.) the initial upfront cost would be lower (ie 25 x $39 vs 25 x $59), though the long-term cost could be substantially higher versus the previous pay per upgrade licensing and 2.) paying more for OS X + iLife + (now) iWork isn’t of any value to institutions that don’t want iWork.
Further, as pointed by an AppleInsider comment poster, previously a school could buy a 120-seat site license for iWork, for example, for $250, which is a grand bargain compared with the new program’s terms.
Also, there’s also an “enrollment fee” equivalent to 10 percent of the licensing fee, though Apple will waive this fee until Dec. 13.
Where’s the beef?
Although certainly more “convenient” in terms of keeping a school or school system licensed with a single renewal date, it’s hard to see any increase in value. That said, if a school needs to run the latest software and if Apple publishes major releases (nearly) annually, there’s the potential for value.
However, if Apple skips a year for one or two of the items in this package, or worse starts playing Adobe’s incremental upgrade game, the value evaporates.
But that’s not how things work in my experience. Most schools buy Macs and run them and the originally loaded software until they’re dead or otherwise no longer useful…
What’s your take?
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October 18th, 2009
I think a lot more schools will be looking a linux.
October 18th, 2009
I think a lot more users will be looking at linux.