Apple and Dell are competing for what may be the biggest single purchase of computers ever — 130,000 laptops, according to the Detroit Free Press . The state plans to give every sixth grader a portable computer. And that’s just the first year of the US$156 million plan, the newspaper says.
Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, along with Apple and Dell, are attempting to woo Michigan leaders, but the latter two companies appear to be the top contenders. However, Apple probably has the edge, based on the success it has had with the nation’s two most-watched educational experiments with wireless laptops, the Detroit Free Press reports.
“Apple won the contract to provide 23,000 laptops to high school students and teachers in Henrico County in Virginia two years ago,” the article explains. “And this year, Maine selected Apple to provide 36,000 middle school students and teachers with Apple iBook laptops.”
Michigan’s program is set to start Jan. 1. “It’s important that we select the right vendor because their product is going to touch a lot of lives,” Bruce Montgomery, who is coordinating the program for Michigan Virtual University, the state’s online education initiative, told the Free Press.