4 years ago Apple landed a huge (read $35 million) contract with a local school division under what looked like at the time (and still does 4 years later) shady dealings with a certain School Administrator and his cronies on the School board.

Now with a new Superintendent, a new School Board, and a lot of questions about the program itself, Apple lost out to Dell in a real competitive bid.  While the current contract is only for half the $35 million, the other half comes due next spring.  And for a company like Apple, that one contract is BIG.  So it is going to hurt.

This switch from Apple to Dell also demonstrates something that I have been saying for a while now.  Where once Apple clearly had the superior OS, Microsoft has been chipping away at it for years, and with the release of Windows XP, drew ahead (until OSX was released later that year).  Now it is pretty much neck and neck and the real deciding factor in a computer is not the OS, but in Price.  And Apple still cant learn that lesson.

Apple innovates, Dell imitates.  IN the end, I am buying Dell stock.  They are the Microsoft of hardware and have beaten every competitor year after year after year.  I dont hink they have superior products, just better marketing, selection, support and access (I am not talking about Bindhu Rasheesh either).