nicholaA@batman.moravian.EDU (Andy Nicholas) (03/11/90)
The following was posted by Bob Matsuoka on GEnie earlier today. I thought
folks might find it interesting...
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Category 5, Topic 9
Message 63 Sat Mar 10, 1990
R.MATSUOKA [want IIF] at 02:00 EST
Apple Computers in Education
I though some of you may be interested in the following statistics I've
derived from figures published in the October, 1989 issue of _Electronic
Learning_. They polled all of the states departments of education for
various information regarding technology use in K-12 schools. One of the
tables lists numbers of computers, with categories for each of the models
I've listed below. The charts they published only showed the actual
numbers of computer in each category. I've compiled the figures into
percentages based on brand and model.
Source: Electronic Learning, 1989 Survey of the States
State Information
---------------------------
Total States 51 (including Puerto Rico)
States Responding 25
* Not Responding 26
Total Computers 668,053
* California, Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming
Computer Brand: No. Percent
--------------- --------- ---------
Apple II 264,821 52.65%
IBM 84,927 16.88%
Tandy 72,940 14.50%
Commodore 45,732 9.09%
Other 34,609 6.88%
MS-DOS Clones 12,614 2.51%
Apple Macintosh 7,927 1.58%
Total 503,029 100.00%
Computer System: No. Percent
---------------- --------- ---------
Apple II+/e/c 189,356 53.42%
Other 34,609 9.76%
IBM PC/XT/AT 24,248 6.84%
C64/128 23,249 6.56%
TRS-80 22,966 6.48%
Apple GS 16,826 4.75%
MS-DOS Clone 12,614 3.56%
IBM PS/2 10,889 3.07%
Macintosh 7,927 2.24%
PET 6,561 1.85%
Tandy 100 3,980 1.12%
Tandy 1000 1,214 .34%
Total 354,439 100.00%
As you can see, there is considerable discrepancy among the tables,
especially in the total number of computers. This is due to the fact that
many of the states didn't list individual models, just manufacturers, and
some only gave total number of computers.
Also significant are the number of states that didn't reply, including the
two most populous. The percentages seem pretty consistent with figures
I've heard bandied about, though.
The article did not mention what 'other' computers were, but I assume they
include CP/M, orphaned systems, Amiga, and Atari (their 8 bit as well as
ST) among others.
I have seen Apple make more of a marketing effort in education recently,
but most of seems aimed at teachers (Mac+,SE) and administration (Mac II).
The SE vs GS ad has popped up a few times. IBM, Commodore and Tandy are
also advertising, and doing a much better job of stressing their
respective machines' strong points, in my opinion. Apple's ads don't even
mention that the GS now comes standard w/ 1 Meg RAM and improved OS, for
example.
Apple still has a commanding lead in number of machines installed; that
lead is eroding quickly. If Apple does plan to end production of 8-bit
II's, as I've heard, they had better make sure the GS gets the attention
it needs and deserves or there will be no motivation for schools to
continue with Apple. From these figures it seems fairly clear that the
Mac has little or no chance to succeed in this market. The irony is that
the best education software, in my opinion, is being made for the GS right
now and it appears the numbers of GS specific products are increasing.
Educational software that runs on MS-DOS machines are ports of 8-bit II
stuff, mostly, as the typical DOS box in schools can't run programs with
the sound and graphics capability of the GS (I doubt if more than 10-15%
of the PCs in K-12 schools have greater than CGA, for example). Lots of
computer manufacturers (Tandy, HeadStart) are selling _very_ low cost
machines with decent graphics and DOS shells built in, however, so Apple
can't afford to be complacent.
-/---\-
/ Bob \
p.s. If anyone is interested in the original figures, send me Email.
p.p.s. It looks like I left out some of the states that didn't respond.
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Yeah!shankar@SRC.Honeywell.COM (Subash Shankar) (03/13/90)
In article <1199@batman.moravian.EDU> nicholaA@batman.moravian.EDU (Andy Nicholas) writes: >The following was posted by Bob Matsuoka on GEnie earlier today. I thought >folks might find it interesting... [lots of nice stats comparing which computers are used in schools deleted] What would be nice to go along with these stats is the distribution of computer purchases rather then what they have. Is the overwhelming lead of the Apple II due to old models, or are schools still buying Apples? If not, are they buying MS-DOS machines, or Macs? I bet (hope?) Apple would wake up if the former. --- Subash Shankar Honeywell Systems & Research Center MN65-2100 voice: (612) 782 7558 US Snail: 3660 Technology Dr., Minneapolis, MN 55418 shankar@src.honeywell.com srcsip!shankar