Apple recently announced changes to its higher education agreements that require the University to make some changes to our internal purchasing process, effective April 1, 2020. Institutional purchasing operations will shift away from Apple Direct and the UNL Computer Store to an established channel partner, Connection. This change will not impact personal Apple purchasing, which will continue to be available through the UNL Computer Store. The Apple Direct PunchOut and the UNL Apple Sales internal catalog will be removed from eSHOP when existing orders finish processing. No new orders should be placed via the Apple Direct PunchOut and the UNL Apple Sales catalogs.
Leveraging an Apple reseller for institutional purchases aligns the University with our Higher Education peers and unifies technology purchasing practices with our other technology vendors Dell, HP, and Lenovo. In Fall of 2020, Apple products will be introduced into the University Computer Standards RFP alongside existing hardware standards.
Beginning April 1, 2020 all UNK, UNL, UNO, UNMC and Central Administration institutional purchasers will receive a similar experience and enjoy these benefits:
University recommended Apple configurations will be available on the homepage of Connection, alongside HP standard configurations. These configurations reflect frequently purchased Apple items from across the University system.
All standard Apple products will be available in the Connection catalog. To request a custom build, contact Steve Siebersma at steve.siebersma@connection.com or Rob Pica at rob.pica@connection.com at Connection for a quote.
Apple products will be shipped directly to the purchaser, just like any other Connection order.
Apple products will be eligible for Endpoint Management Services when they are delivered.
AppleCare+ for Schools (https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/applecare/education/applecareplusus.html) will be available for all Apple products, offering extended warranties and accidental damage protection. Apple Repair Agreements will be available for Mac hardware.
Apple Leasing will continue to be available through Apple Financial Services. For more information about Apple Leasing, contact your IT Support representative.
Apple App & Book purchases will continue to process through the Apple VPP Software form in eSHOP.