Apple for Teachers?

With technology boot camps for teachers and computer-leasing programs for parents, Apple Computer Inc. has been fighting hard to regain ground after losing its lead in educational sales to Dell two years ago.

Apple has boosted its market share from a low of 19% in the fourth quarter of 2000 to more than 23% in the second quarter of this year, according to International Data Corp. Still, Dell had 37.5% in the second quarter.

Apple, the first computer maker to focus on the education market, gets an estimated 40% of sales from schools. But it has had trouble fighting Dell.

And in an increasingly un-Apple world, even Mac loyalists in the education community are skeptical Apple will ever reach the 45% market share it enjoyed in 1996.