Apple’s new eMac is a computer just for education — from kindergarten all the way up through universities, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a CNN interview.
The eMac is Apple’s new all-in-computer for the education market. See Monday’s article for details. Jobs said Apple listened to educators in designing the product.
“We had a lot of schools come to us and say we love your products, but we want one just for us. And we love the original iMac,” Jobs said. “But we want a bigger screen on it. We want a 17-inch screen instead of a 15-inch. We want a G4 processor in it so that it runs a lot of your applications even faster. But we love the all-in-one enclosure of the iMac. And we don’t want it to be deeper than the iMac because our classrooms are set up, you know, the desks aren’t that deep. We worked really hard and came up with the eMac.”
Apple doesn’t think that making a product just for the education market is risky because it involves such a big segment of users, Jobs said. When asked if it bothered him that some folks perceive Apple products, even those for education, as pricer than other brands, Jobs said, “so do Sony products” and “you get what you pay for.”
In the interview, Jobs reiterated Apple’s commitment to the education market, and it’s importance to the company.
“About half the computers used in education are Apples, so we have a legacy there and we have a great business there,” he said. “So, it’s very, very important … Education is very, very budget conscious and wants to buy the most computers they can for the dollar so the most kids can get exposure to them. So, this was our attempt to take all the great things of that new iMac, except for the flat display, and be able to bring them into the classroom a little cheaper … We want to provide amazing tools for these kids to learn.”