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Tech Giants Donate $750 Million In Goods and Services To Underprivileged Schools

Posted by Soulskill on from the go-big-or-go-home dept.

mrspoonsi sends news that a group of major tech companies has combined to donate $750 million worth of gadgets and services to students in 114 schools across the U.S. Apple is sending out $100 million worth of iPads, MacBooks, and other products. O'Reilly Media is making $100 million worth of educational content available for free. Microsoft and Autodesk are discounting software, while Sprint and AT&T are offering free wireless service. This is part of the ConnectED Initiative, a project announced by the Obama Administration last year to bring modern technology to K-12 classrooms. The FCC has also earmarked $2 billion to improve internet connectivity in schools and libraries over the next two years. Obama also plans to seek funding for training teachers to utilize this infusion of technology.

13 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. COG by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, Apple's donating stuff which costs them money to make (hardware). O'Reilly is giving stuff which doesn't cost them much, if anything (incremental cost). Kudos for that freebie, but Microsoft and Autodesk are likely making a profit with a "discount" on things with virtually no incremental cost. They probably consider it like advertising - they expect to make even more from future sales. Sprint and ATT are somewhere in between.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:COG by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Underprivileged" schools really need basics like text books, notebooks, and pencils for the kids.
      Technology is not a replacement for the bare necessities that are missing in the most underfunded schools.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:COG by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "Underprivileged" schools really need basics like text books, notebooks, and pencils for the kids.

      So? Are you offering to donate these? If not, then why are you sneering at the companies that are actually doing something, rather than nothing? You don't need a pencil to operate an iPad, and these poor kids will likely benefit more than most from exposure to technology.

    3. Re:COG by larryjoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't doubt the goodness of Apple's heart. However, of that $100 million, about $50 million or less is actual COGS. And, they get a huge multi-million dollar tax deduction. And, they are clearing out their old inventory of last generation hardware that is now worth less due to newly introduced versions, and they place that inventory in the hand of customers who wouldn't necessarily pay for those products on their own (i.e., poor families and schools) and therefore don't fully steal from their own market share. And, they are continuing their strategy of putting their products in the hands of students so that those students become future customers, i.e., fantastic marketing. So, Apple is to be commended for their generosity, but they are to be venerated for their business acumen.

  2. I Don't Get It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't get it. Why not tax corporations properly and legislate against their exploitation of tax havens? With more government revenue you can properly fund the education system without having to rely on the condescension of corporate largess. The G-20 is meeting soon. Sounds like an ideal time to reform international tax law.

  3. Wow $100 Million by Art+Challenor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about we just have Apple (and many other mega-companies) pay taxes at a reasonable rate then we won't need to fund education from "charity" (plus don't forget that the $100M is tax deductable, so it part of another tax loophole. Details here: http://www.americansfortaxfair...

    1. Re:Wow $100 Million by Uberbah · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why didn't you simply say "I'm a serf in favor of feudalism" and save yourself a few dozen self-centered words?

  4. Re:Election week BS, not PR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The politician in question isn't up for election.

  5. Where is the money to hire support staff? by zerofoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These gifts and grants are nice, but without long-term funding of support staff this is what happens:

    http://www.njspotlight.com/sto...

    You can't simply push tons of technology into schools and forget about it. The "light the fuse and run" approach never works. You need a staff of technology people who will train staff, maintain and repair the tech, and integrate the technology into the curriculum.

    Without adequate support, these systems will simply collect dust and end up in a storage locker.

  6. Yawn, minuscule in so many ways... by Rick+in+China · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So the tech giants are donating ALMOST as much as the clownface Ballmer receives in tax breaks from purchasing a sports team? Great job guys! Let us gather and praise the fractions of tax deductible gifts which pale in comparison to the profits earned by manufacturing in poverty stricken countries and shirking domestic tax responsibilities, because it is the only salvation to clean you're otherwise amoral-yet-wretched corporate souls.

  7. Re:Theft. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This will just make them attractive targets for theft.

    You could make the same cynical and nihilistic comment about anything given to these kids. Better computers? They will just get stolen. Better books? Those will get stolen too. Better classrooms? Target for vandalism. That way you can criticize anyone who does anything, and feel superior about doing nothing.

  8. Re:Theft. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    An iPad probably has a bit higher black-market value than a textbook on High School chemistry.

    So the best solution is to have neither? Look, Apple is offering to donate iPads. They are NOT offering to donate chemistry textbooks. I don't see you offering to donate them either. So pretending that by turning down the iPads, we are going to magically get chemistry textbooks is just silly. The choice is not "iPads vs Chemistry Textbooks", it is "iPads vs Nothing". To say that "nothing" is better, because the iPads will just get stolen anyway, is just a cynical rationalization by people that want to feel smug and superior, criticizing these donors, while doing absolutely nothing themselves.

  9. Re:Theft. by khasim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So the best solution is to have neither?

    No. The best solution, as I have stated, is to have the books needed to pass the standardized tests.

    Look, Apple is offering to donate iPads. They are NOT offering to donate chemistry textbooks.

    And that is the problem. By donating the iPads, Apple gets a tax write-off and the schools end up with broken/stolen tech that ate up resources.

    a. Apple could pay their taxes and the government could use that money to buy those books.

    b. Apple could donate those books INSTEAD of the iPads.

    c. Apple could donate a portion of the proceeds of selling those iPads.

    Why isn't Apple working on getting the books that would cost a lot LESS than those iPads? Because Apple is looking out for Apple. And using those kids as PR.

    To say that "nothing" is better, because the iPads will just get stolen anyway, is just a cynical rationalization by people that want to feel smug and superior, criticizing these donors, while doing absolutely nothing themselves.

    I've just given you three scenarios that would be better.

    You are the one claiming that Apple's only option is to donate iPads.