An Apple for the Teacher will have to be Apple Computer Inc’s counter to an onslaught on its US schools fiefdom by IBM Corp and Compaq Computer Inc: schoolchildren are beginning to demand Windows because that is what they are most likely to use in the outside world, but IBM has found schools a fine market for getting rid of its excess inventory cheaply, and according to the Wall Street Journal, now claims to sell more machines to classrooms and school administrators than Apple – and this year, Compaq is launching its own education effort, signing up 400 dealers to blitz school boards; IBM, through its EduQuest division, began writing software for education eight years ago, and reckons it now has as much software available as Apple offers; US primary and secondary schools will spend about $2,50om this year on computer hardware, and that is expected to grow 12% to 14% a year; about 45% of all computers in US schools are still aged Apple IIs.
