Apple kills boxed software for school stores

Update: We’ve gotten ahold of the EOL notice, above.

Apple is telling its educational resellers not to expect any more packaged software in the future, ZDNet reports. This includes boxed copies of Mac OS X, iLife, iWork, Apple Remote Desktop and Aperture. Each of these programs has been available on the Mac App Store for months. The news came in an email Apple sent to educational resellers and included just one exception:

Apple confirmed today that, with limited exception, they will cease to ship boxed software to campus resellers. This includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard , iLife, iWork, Apple Remote Desktop, and Aperture, among others. We have a limited supply of copies of each in stock in the store, so consider this a “last call” for anyone who would like a hard copy before they are gone. Particularly anyone who would like to get Snow Leopard, as we just received our final shipment of that version of the OS. The only products that will remain as boxed software offerings are Logic Express and Logic Studio. For information on Apple Volume Purchasing Program for software, we’ve posted a page on our website that describes how departmental users can take advantage of purchasing volume licensing.

Apple’s been moving from software distributed on physical media towards the digital-only model. As a result, Apple’s own Mac software found on the Mac App Store is significantly cheaper than the physical boxes because the company doesn’t have to pay for the manuals, the boxes, printing, handling and shipping fees and the back-end system supporting these traditional means of distribution.