Date: Thu, 29 Feb 96 14:32:07 GMT From: HHowarth@acorn.co.uk (Henry Howarth) To: cam-all Subject: Price announcement: Pocket Book II 256K now #195 Acorn brings the price of its classroom palmtop computer to under #200 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1/3/96 New Education Prices ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AHB05 Pocket Book II 256K #195 AHB12 Pocket Book II 256K Class Pack #1,950 consists of 10 Pocket Books and 1 set of support peripherals (desktop link, printer cable and mains adaptor) AHB13 Pocket Book II 256K School Pack #19,000 consists of 100 Pocket Books and 10 sets of support peripherals AHB14 Pocket Book II 256k Site Pack #182,500 consists of 1,000 Pocket Books and 100 sets of support peripherals Product Statement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With immediate effect, Acorn Education has reduced the Educational Price of Pocket Book II 256k, its entry level palmtop computer, to #195 exc VAT making palmtop computing power more affordable for schools and colleges. Pocket Book is the educational version of the award winning Psion Series 3a palmtop computer, which is a world leader in the business and consumer markets for palmtop computers. Acorn has modified the Pocket Book to equip it for educational use, including adding a specialist graph plotter for maths and science work and incorporating a spellchecker and Thesaurus as standard, while removing the password protection which would create classroom management difficulties. Acorn are enjoying growing success with the Pocket Book, with an installed base of over 20,000 units worldwide, most of which are in use in UK schools today. The success is attributable to the ease with which Pocket Book integrates into existing educational use and the advantages which accrue from the huge increase in access to IT the product offers to learners and teachers, while staying within budget. Acorn's partnership with Psion is working well for both parties, and Acorn are actively pursuing a programme of enhancing and extending the educational application of the product. The Psion Series 3a, which Research Machines carry in their educational catalogue, is ideal for business and consumer markets but has none of the educational modifications and added value incorporated in the Pocket Book. Acorn Education's policy is to market technology that is appropriate for educational use, and Pocket Book will play an important role in the exciting new joint venture with Apple that has been recently announced. Because Pocket Book can exchange information with RISC OS, Mac OS and PC desktop computers, it is suitable for integration into any educational IT environment.