Apple’s back-to-school promotion for Mac purchases launched today, with a clear goal of getting students to explore the Mac App Store. Those who make a qualifying purchase with education pricing through September 20 get a $100 gift card to use on the Mac App Store, the App Store, the iTunes Store and the iBookstore.
No doubt Apple will be hoping that those who take advantage of the offer will be using their money for productivity apps like Pages, Keynote or Numbers (another reason Microsoft needs to get its excellent Office 2011 suite in the Mac App Store). See here for the official terms and conditions. Potential buyers should note that those who make a purchase will also get Mac OS X Lion free when it launches this summer.
Tech companies are fiercely competing for students’ money this summer, with Microsoft offering an Xbox 360 to PC buyers and Google pushing its new, web-based Chromebooks.
