Apple App Store now offers educational discounts
The Apple iTunes App Store is offering educational discounts on their wares for the first time. The program is put together to let educational institutions buy in volume, then distribute apps to students.
This will mark the first time that Apple has offered such a discount on iOS4 apps, although the practice of educational discounts is common in the software industry. Generally, those discounts come in the form of lower prices directly to users, but Apple has chosen a different route, according to a ZDNet article. The company will sell software in bulk to schools, who will then distribute the apps to their students. Here are some excerpts from the program that help to explain it.
Volume Vouchers can be purchased at the Apple Store for Education in denominations of $100, $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000. These vouchers can be bought on behalf of the education institution by an Authorized Purchaser, and they may use purchase orders. The Authorized Purchaser is often a purchasing agent at the institution. You should receive your Volume Vouchers in the mail within 3 to 5 business days.
Institutions can designate one or more “Program Facilitators” to redeem Volume Vouchers and purchase apps through the App Store Volume Purchase Program.* The Program Facilitators can be anyone chosen by the Authorized Purchaser — a dean, a professor, a school principal, or a teacher, for example — or the Authorized Purchaser may also fulfill this role.
Can I use a credit card to make purchases through the Volume Purchase Program? No, only Volume Vouchers can be used to make purchases through the Volume Purchase Program. However, your institution’s Authorized Purchaser can request to use a credit card as payment when purchasing the Volume Vouchers.
Though the Apple program is assembled differently than most, it has the same end in mind: lower prices for students and teachers. It may also have the effect of making more educational apps available, since they will now be more affordable to the users of such apps. All in all, a good idea by Apple and a good program for education.
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