Apple, the Saddest School Dropout
The days when Jobs & Co. ruled the classroom are rapidly fading. Why? School officials and parents are scared to stray from the PC herd
SEPTEMBER 18, 2002
BYTE OF THE APPLE
By Charles Haddad
The handwriting is on the chalkboard. Apple is losing its long-held dominance in schools. More Macs are still in place than PCs, but that lead is eroding like a sandcastle in the rain. Apple's sales are falling farther behind as schools increasingly choose PCs over Macs.
Apple's share of current school sales has slipped to less than half that of Dell, which has become the runaway leader. The latest figures are grim: Dell represents nearly 35% of all new sales to Apple's 15.2%. That's up from a low of 12.4% at the end of last year, but down sharply from Apple's 20.2% share two years ago.
Most prognosticators attribute Dell's victory to aggressive pricing, the same broadsword it has used to hack its way into other markets. But I believe something far more deadly is gnawing away at Apple's share. After all, the company has struck back, lowering the prices of entry-level iMacs to $600.
IGNORING THE ADVANTAGES. True, you still get more processing power and storage in a PC at that price, but study after study has shown that Macs are less expensive to run and maintain -- and schools tend to keep computers for years. Some schools still rely on their original Macs.
Plus, Apple offers a great package: Easy-to-use software called PowerSchool that lets teachers track attendance, update grades, and post homework assignments online. Yet despite all these advantages, the Mac's standing continues to fall in schools.
What's the explanation? The answer has more to do with sociology than pricing. Apple is getting trampled by a herd mentality, and Dell is simply the beneficiary -- patiently riding in back, not leading the charge. In effect, the lemmings have spoken: Parents and administrators are clamoring for PCs because that's what everyone else has. I've heard the lament time and again in my son's own school: "Why should my child work on a Mac" -- as if this were some kind of disability -- "when we have PCs at home and in the office?"
THE PUSH FOR PCs. That's a powerful argument in an educational environment. While teachers may favor Macs, it's teachers who are often the weak link in schools, frequently caught between parents and administrators. Teachers know better than anyone that schools are conventional places where there's little reward for thinking differently. Sad to say, that's true in even some of the best schools, such as the one my son attends.
In most schools, teachers don't have much say in budgetary or technology decisions. Administrators who spend little time in classrooms decide districtwide which computers the teachers will use. If they consult anyone, it's typically info-tech specialists, who are largely trained on PCs. Most of them are clueless about the ease and cost-effectiveness of a Mac network -- especially one running OS X. IT consultants invariably recommend what the others in their herd recommend: PCs.
I'm not saying all is lost. But we must face the hard truth. Apple is well on the way to being reduced to a niche player in schools -- even after selling tens of thousands of iBooks to school systems from Virginia to Maine. That's the same fate it has suffered in every other market except graphics and publishing.
SECRET SHARERS. What, if anything, can Apple do? For starters, it must ensure that Macs work seamlessly with PCs. In this realm it has made huge strides. You can now flourish as a Mac renegade in a PC school, thanks to the new networking features in OS X. No one need ever know you're working from a Mac.
Still, Mac's classroom defeat doesn't have to be fatal. After all, while Apple dominated schools throughout most of 1990s, they didn't breed hordes of Mac lovers. Most went off to work in a world of PCs and switched seamlessly. Yet the Mac lives, healthier now than it has been in a decade.
Haddad, Atlanta-based correspondent for BusinessWeek, is a long-time Apple Computer buff. Follow his weekly Byte of the Apple column, only on BusinessWeek Online
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