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Apple offers education package to schools

"We will have talks with a number of educational institutions, both schools and colleges, to include a curriculum that will allow students to experience the latest technological advancements," Apple Computer Managing Director South Asia (in charge of India) Samit Roy has been quoted as saying.

T O D A Y

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The curriculum could be in syllabus or non-syllabus form, he said. Apple is the latest in the series of companies to concentrate on educational institutions to develop skilled labour suiting their respective technologies.

The US-based Cadence had ventured into such an effort via a Cadence curriculum. SAP, the ERP solution major, is another case of setting up two SAPIENT colleges in Bangalore and Bombay to offer a plethora of functional and technical training courses.

Roy said the company would hold talks with Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments to introduce similar schemes in these states.

On the benefits, Samit said, "Mac would become a household name." Apple's channel partners will play a crucial role in these efforts, he said. All these measures are being perceived as part of the global strategy to improve the popularity of the Mac operating systems and Macintosh series.

"The move to depict the computer as a plug and play device has paid off," Samir said. This year, the company expects a growth at least 50 per cent in the region, he added.

Apple's strategy in India would be to focus on retail outlets, direct mail systems and opening some Apple exclusive shops in India. "Revenue growth is the main target," Samit said.

A survey on iMac shows that of every 100 Mac users, 29 are new users, 29 replaced old with new Mac, 28 are traditional Mac users and 12 are new users of Mac who dumped more popular platforms, he claimed.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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