Maine MLTI school program awards PC contract to HP, snubs Apple

  • updated 09:07 pm EDT, Tue April 30, 2013
  •         by MacNN Staff

Long-term exclusive deal with Apple nixed by new deal

Hewlett Packard announced today that it was awarded a four-year hardware and services contract by the Maine Department of Education. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) award effectively ends the state's long-running exclusive contract with Apple, which was in place since 2002. The program will ensure each student in the school system is equipped with a computing device, an underpinning of the initiative since it was founded by then-Governor Angus King in 2001.

Seemingly unaware that the state's existing Intel-based Apple computers were recently considered to be one of the best Windows 8 experiences, Maine Governor Paul R. LePage spoke on the contract award, saying that it was "important that our students are using technology that they will see and use in the workplace. The laptops use an operating system that is commonly used in the workplace in Maine. This is the lowest-priced proposal, and these laptops will provide students with the opportunity to enhance their learning and give them experience on the same technology and software they will see in their future careers."

Apple's primary proposal provided a 13-inch MacBook Air and an iPad mini to each teacher in grades 7-12. Students in grades 7 and 8 (and other opt-in grades) would receive an iPad with Retina display for a $217 cost per seat per year. Apple's alternative offer came in at $273 per seat, per year. Students were slated to receive an 11-inch MacBook Air, with teachers getting a 13-inch MacBook Air. Both proposals also required a $49 per year per-seat charge for wireless network maintenance and repairs.

The winning Hewlett Packard proposal put forth a $254.86 per-seat per-year deal. Teachers and students would receive a Windows 8 Hewlett Packard 4440S laptop with a dual-core 1.9GHz Celeron equipped with 2GB of RAM, and a 14-inch display running at 1366x768 resolution. HP would subcontract networking to BlackBox, with a similar per-head charge for wireless network management as Apple's proposals.

The last unit Apple provided to the state was the plastic-housed MacBook at an estimated cost to the state of $700 per unit. Deployment III units distributed in Maine from 2009 through this year were a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo model with a 120GB hard drive, and 2GB of RAM.

Governor LePage added that middle schools would be able to choose any of the proposals made to the state, and the state would cover the cost up to the amount of the equivalent HP proposal. At the high school level, where districts pay for the devices themselves with the support of state targeted technology funds, the state will leverage its buying power to get the lowest price possible on any of the solutions.

Other school districts switching away from Apple solutions have reported dramatic increases in service and repair costs, which in most cases, exceed any cost savings from shifting hardware providers. Apple provided unusually-long four-year AppleCare warranties on provided equipment under the Maine school deal. HP is providing "a development specialist, instructional workshops, technical workshops and an active portal that will be a one-stop shop for all professional development resources for any educator in the state."

Existing MacBook computers may be purchased for $47 per unit by the schools that have them in hand assuming all of the units in the school are purchased. AppleCare for all units, regardless of original deployment or purchase date, expires on June 30. Computers that have not been retained by the assigned schools will be sent to the state of Maine's surplus system for sale to the general public after a period of exclusivity by other state governmental agencies seeking the machines.

TAGS
17 Comments
  1. Avatar
    Makosuke Dedicated MacNNer Joined: Aug 06, 2001
    Apr 30, 2013 at 09:47 pm

    You go with what you think is the best bid, but if those Windows machines are running Windows 8, I'd like to take a bet on whether that's what the students will be seeing in the workplace. It's the new Vista, as far as I can tell, when it comes to business adoption--I'm certainly not rolling it out to any of my clients.

    Also, I will be impressed if those laptops end up being cheaper to maintain than iPads in the long run. Would be an interesting case study, actually.

  2. Avatar
    Mike Wuerthele Managing Editor Joined: Jul 19, 2012
    Apr 30, 2013 at 09:48 pm

    Since the original article publication, we have discovered that they are running Windows 8.

  3. Avatar
    thinkman Junior Member Joined: Jan 04, 2005
    Apr 30, 2013 at 09:52 pm

    Another step backwards for education.

  4. Avatar
    Charles Martin Mac Elite Joined: Aug 04, 2001
    Apr 30, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    Looking at these specs, it seems to me that Maine is getting new machines that are arguably no improvement whatsoever -- and may in fact be worse -- than the four-year-old MacBooks. Windows 8 on 2GB of RAM with a 1.9GHz Celeron? Maine is getting shafted here to the tune of millions, and this has absolutely nothing to do with Apple, the OS or the software -- I'm talking purely hardware here. Even if you're going to go with Windows 8 machines, you should be able to get a lot better quality hardware than something a four-year-old MacBook would have no trouble beating.

  5. Avatar
    jpellino Forum Regular Joined: Oct 29, 1999
    Apr 30, 2013 at 11:00 pm

    Celeron? That's not even a currently configurable model on the HP site. They got hosed. Doubt they figured in the training cost of moving to W8. The law of unintended consequences strikes again...

  6. Avatar
    TomMcIn Fresh-Faced Recruit Joined: Dec 21, 2001
    May 01, 2013 at 12:04 am

    Great if they are working to train technicians.

  7. Avatar
    Grendelmon Senior User Joined: Dec 26, 2007
    May 01, 2013 at 08:55 am

    Originally Posted by NewsPosterView Post

    "Seemingly unaware that the state's existing Intel-based Apple computers were recently considered to be one of the best Windows 8 experiences..."



    Fluff. Doesn't belong in this story.

  8. Avatar
    Grendelmon Senior User Joined: Dec 26, 2007
    May 01, 2013 at 09:06 am

    Originally Posted by chas_mView Post

    Looking at these specs, it seems to me that Maine is getting new machines that are arguably no improvement whatsoever -- and may in fact be worse -- than the four-year-old MacBooks. Windows 8 on 2GB of RAM with a 1.9GHz Celeron? Maine is getting shafted here to the tune of millions, and this has absolutely nothing to do with Apple, the OS or the software -- I'm talking purely hardware here. Even if you're going to go with Windows 8 machines, you should be able to get a lot better quality hardware than something a four-year-old MacBook would have no trouble beating.



    Where in the heck are you getting those specs? Sounds like a bunch of bull to me.

    The official HP education store lists the model specs here:
    http://gem.compaq.com/gemstore/MatrixDisplay.asp?ProductLineId=9&FamilyId=2711&oi=E9CED

    Core i3, i5 or i7. That's a step UP from the Core Duos.

    Does Windows 8 even support Celerons? Again, please post the URL for where you are finding these "specs."

  9. Avatar
    Mike Wuerthele Managing Editor Joined: Jul 19, 2012
    May 01, 2013 at 10:25 am

    Two minutes on Google would have found that 1- you can configure the 4440S with a Celeron, and 2- this is from the proposal that HP submitted to the state.

    http://www.maine.gov/mlti/deployment/HPPrimary_RFP201210412.pdf

    Have fun going through the 300 pages.

    You want to talk Bull? The HP press release on this omitted the Governor's remarks that it was the cheapest proposal. Just snipped it clean out of the middle of his statement.

  10. Avatar
    msuper69 Professional Poster Joined: Jan 16, 2000
    May 01, 2013 at 10:30 am

    As a Mainiac, I am deeply disappointed in this decision.
    Many, many boos to the State of Maine.

Post a comment
Please note that it takes a couple of minutes for new comments to be visible in this area.
  

Now AAPL Stock: 116.6 ( -0.46 )

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Developer  116d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

 116d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Industry  116d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Troubleshooting  116d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Upgrades/storage  116d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Investor  117d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE

IPhone apps  117d