Apple's New IBook Aimed at Schools

     Apple Computer Inc. rolled out a new version of its iBook laptop line at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., yesterday in hopes the new product will help it jump-start sales to the education market.
     The new laptop is a smaller, lighter and less colorful version of Apple's popular iBook line, which was introduced in 1999 and promoted heavily to educators and students.
The new iBook starts at $1,299 and comes in a white, polycarbonite plastic shell that somewhat resembles that of its more expensive cousin, the G4 PowerBook Titanium laptop. The new iBook weighs in at 4.9 pounds, two pounds lighter than previous iBooks and about a half- pound lighter than the G4 PowerBook.
     Yesterday's announcement comes as computer makers begin to gear up for the next school year. Apple once dominated the education market but has seen its share decline in recent years as a result of competitive pricing from other computer manufacturers. The company now is second to Dell Computer Corp. in overall sales to schools.
"This is about Apple trying to get back into education," said Lorin Evans, president of Washington Apple Pi, a locally based Apple user group.
     Apple has already secured at least one major new customer in the education market for its new iBook, the company said yesterday. Apple recently reached an agreement with Henrico County Public Schools to supply 23,000 iBooks to the Virginia school district, a deal Apple chief executive Steve Jobs called "the single largest sale of portable computers in education ever" in a statement Apple released yesterday.
     Terms of the deal were not disclosed. A Henrico spokeswoman declined to comment, referring calls to schools Superintendent Mark Edwards, who was traveling from the news conference back to Virginia and could not be reached.
     Adam Engst, publisher of the Mac news site TidBits, said he was generally impressed by the new laptop but added that he thought the entry-level iBooks should probably come with more than the included 64 megabytes of memory, especially if users are interested in running Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X.
       "Almost everyone will want more memory, unless they're doing some pretty basic stuff," said Engst.
     Apple last updated the iBook in September, when the company added faster chips, more storage and a DVD drive to its high-end model. With flamboyant shades going by such names as "tangerine" and "key lime," previous iBooks sold for $1,499 and $1,799. Philip Schiller, vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple, said yesterday that the company has sold 700,000 iBooks since the product was launched in 1999.
      Engst said he wouldn't miss the iBook's bright colors -- "They were getting a little old" -- but said he would miss the handle that came on the original iBooks, making them easy to pick up and carry.
     Others liked the new styling.
     "It's cute," Evans said of the new model. "It's much less clunky- looking than the old one."
Speculation about a new laptop from Apple had been building for several days among many Mac-oriented tech gossip sites that scrutinize the company's every move. Apple stopped selling iBooks from its online store recently, listing the laptops as "temporarily unavailable" -- a move that has often preceded a product update.