App Store Volume Purchase Program Explained
Friday, August 27, 2010 at 4:13PM 
Apple has recently updated the Terms and Conditions for iTunes and the App Store. In addition, the company has announced the App Store Volume Purchase Program. In the past Apple had no mechanism for downloading an app more than once, so schools would purchase an app one time and distribute it to all their iPod touches, iPads, and iPhones. This arrangement made app purchases for class sets of handhelds inexpensive but was not properly compensating app developers.
The new App Store Volume Purchase Program requires schools to follow Terms and Conditions that are different from the Terms and Conditions for individual consumers. Apple even reserves the right to audit purchases to make sure that schools are following all of the usage rules for educational institutions, including purchasing activation codes for each device onto which an app is installed.
In the Terms and Conditions and in the Volume Purchase Program Frequently Asked Questions, Apple describes the process of ordering vouchers which can be used to purchase activation codes. While schools with class sets would buy activation codes for each of their handhelds, only one code would be redeemed if all handhelds are synced to the same computer. The remaining activation codes would not be redeemed, but kept in case of an audit.
Jim Siegl made a useful flowchart that visually explains the process:
- A Program Facilitator creates a quote for a one or more Volume Vouchers for a set dollar amount in $100 increments.
- This request is routed to the district Authorized Purchaser who approves the quote and places the order.
- The voucher is sent to the Program Facilitator via mail.
- The Authorized Purchaser receives the Voucher and send the voucher to the Program Facilitator via internal mail.
- Using a New Apple ID created for this purpose, the Program Facilitator searches for and purchases apps in
variable quantities, up to the dollar limit of the voucher amount and billed accordingly.
- The Program Facilitator will receive an email with a link to a dashboard, now populated with app-‐specific codes. These codes can be distributed to users for redemption at the App Store.
- The Program Facilitator distributes the app specific codes to the individual that requested them.
- The requestor redeems the codes in one of three ways (assume 30 iPods)
- a. One code is redeemed to a single iTunes account, iTunes is activated with that account on up to five 5 computers. The 29 remaining codes are kept on file in the event of an audit.
- b. 30 codes are distributed and redeemed against 30 school managed iTunes accounts.
- c. 30 codes are distributed and redeemed against 30 student managed iTunes accounts. App becomes property of the student.
variable quantities, up to the dollar limit of the voucher amount and billed accordingly.
- a. One code is redeemed to a single iTunes account, iTunes is activated with that account on up to five 5 computers. The 29 remaining codes are kept on file in the event of an audit.
- b. 30 codes are distributed and redeemed against 30 school managed iTunes accounts.
- c. 30 codes are distributed and redeemed against 30 student managed iTunes accounts. App becomes property of the student.
As you can gather, the process is complicated. No more can teachers with class sets of Apple handhelds simply purchase an app in iTunes and sync. Now the teacher must work with the school district's Volume Purchase Program Facilitator to acquire a voucher and activation codes. Jim has written more about the intricacies of the Volume Purchase Program and step-by-step instructions on the IEAR wiki.
As part of the program, individual app developers have the option to offer up to 50% discounts on purchases of 20 or more of the same app. You won't see the discount in the App Store itself. You'll have to search for the title of app on the App Store Volume Purchase Program page. For example, when I search for SonicPics, I can see pricing for 1-19 units and for 20+ units.
For a class set of 30, it would cost about $45 to purchase SonicPics for each handheld. In the world of desktop software, that's not bad. However, it's still very pricey compared to the $3 it would cost before the Volume Purchase Program went into effect. The best way to take advantage of the power of Apple's handhelds is to equip them with multiple apps, which will add up very quickly. Not only will the Volume Purchase Program be costly when buying many different apps, but it also requires schools to keep documentation in case Apple decides to do an audit.
I think the extra cost and steps to purchase apps for schools will greatly curtail educational app purchases. Some good news is that the Volume Purchase Program is only for paid apps. Free apps can be downloaded immediately without going through the process outlined in the flowchart. It's reassuring to know that 30% of apps in the App Store are free and you can search the App Store for only free apps by conducting a Power Search.
With nearly 300,000 items in the App Store, there's a good chance you'll find a free alternative to a paid app. For instance, searching for Digital Storytelling gave me a great free alternative to SonicPics called Storyrobe.
Often apps are offered for free for a limited time. You can find out about these deals by searching Twitter for #edapp and using sites like FreeAppAlert and AppShopper. When downloading free apps, educators should document that the app was free. This way if the app does become a paid app in the future, there is proof the app was properly acquired.
Judi Epcke, Scott Meech, and I discuss the Volume Purchase Program in Episode #3 of the IEAR podcast. The three of us were confused and frustrated by Apple's new process. Hopefully as more schools transition to using the App Store Volume Purchase Program, we'll know more about the benefits and limitations of the recently developed rules for purchasing apps.
Reader Comments (21)
When you have to budget 12-18 months in advance this just adds to the complexity.
I really hoping software doesn't drive the iPad out of reach for most schools.
A process this difficult will create a LOSE-LOSE system. Schools will lose out because most will only look for free apps. It is simply too complex to pay for apps. The developers will lose because schools will not purchase their paid apps.
I don't mind paying for multiple licenses. Apple, why can't you put a pulldown menu that includes the 'quantity' purchased? Every other vendor on the Internet does it this way. If I want to buy 10 books I don't make 10 purchases on Amazon, I buy 10 at a time (with no fuss). The user could then print a receipt in case the auditor shows up.
Way to blow it, Apple!
Incredibly frustrating move on Apple's part. We were largely sold the iPod Touch/iPad ecosystem based on the whole buy an app once, push it out to a class set feature. (And yes, it was marketed as a feature by Apple sales reps.) This is a huge setback, and quite underhanded, frankly. To top it off, Apple, in press releases, makes themselves out to be the saviors of education in this scenario as they work with developers to get us these great price cuts. Maybe it's time for the rise of the Android tablet. I for one, will be much more reserved in my recommendations to both district principals and in professional development workshops I give on this subject.
-Lucas
It looks like by 2011, we'll have an assortment of Android tablets to choose from and then Apple's grip on the educational handheld market will slip. Especially if Android's app purchasing has fewer steps.
Though, I wish these devices weren't so app focused and instead developers made websites/services that run in the browser. Then operating system wouldn't matter as much.
It's very interesting. In our iPad trial (DEECD Victoria Australia) we have just spent $2600 on apps as there is no volume licencing in Australia yet. Our students and parents (we hope) have made an account in iTunes and the used vouchers to buy the required apps. As the students are under 13 parents are vital to the downloading of apps and the iTunes account. So each student now has the app and owns it but next year we will need to purchase them again. If we had used school iTunes accounts to download we would still be able to use the apps next year without repurchasing as the grade 6 students move on to high school. Also the individual downloading of apps takes around one and a half hours for each iPad. Very time consuming for everyone. Are twins allowed to share their apps to 2 iPads as they are in the same family. Does that constitute personal use?
Those who don't have internet at home have downloaded the apps at school with parent permission, one at a time on a designated Mac book pro with separate user accounts. This seems strange as we now have the apps on the laptop 6 times. Plus it took 9 hrs to download the apps 6 times.
There has to be a better way. In school multiple syncing is a must.
@Jenny: Re personal use--Yes, It sounds like you are using consumer accounts with the students and giving them vouchers so they now own the app. If so then the consumer Terms and Conditions seem to apply, so by my read the same app could be share by twins (or up to quintuplets or five siblings/family members)
I agree that this is complicated. It is also true hat Apple may have made this much worse by selling a cart that syncs 40 iPods to one Mac, not being clear that the license was only for consumers, heavily promoting the devices to schools, even as a solution for stimulus funds, and that some Apple reps may have promoted the "buy once, copy many" loophole as something that was OK in addition to being technically possible.
I may be a glass half full guy on this, but every conversations with Apple over the last 18 months has ended with "the app store is for consumers only", so at least this is SOME way to buy Apps, Before this, to buy an expensive app, I contacted an individual developer to ask for a separate license that would specifically covers schools--(thank you proloquo2go or putting up with my strange questions). We've held off on large deployments because of this stumbling block.
As far as limitations around budgeting and working with the district program facilitator, there are some small positives here, the program facilitator seems to be at the school building level, not the district level, so one less level of bureaucracy. Also as I read the process, it should be possible to budget for X dollars of vouchers (in the smallest denomination) and buy them for the school at the beginning of the year and hand them out to teachers to use, just as you might have done with gift cards. ( I'm still waiting on Apple to activate my Program Facilitator account so if anyone has found different-chime in)
All I see in this whole scheme is that education takes another smack in the face. Educators are doing their best to teach the children of tomorrow by keeping them up to date on technology with little means to do so. Apple, you put the technology out there and the school systems are chomping at the bits to acquire it. With the changes in your terms and conditions regarding apps I have a feeling a lot of school systems and other areas of education will reconsider their purchases because of the extra cost they will have to incur to use your products. Apple, you should abide by the terms and conditions that your representatives used as a selling point to get the educators and school systems to buy your products. Being one of the largest entity's in the world I doubt you will even notice if this small but very important group of people stopped buying your products for use in their school systems. You won't suffer but the students will. I suggest that Apple help compensate the app developers if that is the problem. The education system in the good old USA has been beat down enough and I would for once like to see someone offer them some help. Budget cuts have caused lost jobs, pay cuts and limited supplies yet they still try to see that their students will be prepared for the future and this means knowing about technology. Don't let them down. They are about at the point of saying "why do we even try?" PLEASE STEP UP...
From a developer's perspective (we are the developers of SonicPics) the Apple iApp ecosystem is very frustrating. We are limited in what we can develop by the, often arbitrary and somewhat bizarre restrictions in the app approval process. We are separated from direct contact with our customers unless they figure out how to contact us directly. This is a big problem because there is no feedback loop that helps developers tailor and tune their software to more closely match what users want and need. The iApp store is ham-handedly tacked onto iTunes and enjoys all of the tremendous limitations of it's design. (It is a music player, trying to act as an app store.)
And pricing is close to impossible. We have always tried to price our software as low as we can to make it sustainable. There are only a couple of options for developers to make money, charge upfront, embed advertising, or tie the app into another franchise where the money is made.
I love the idea of a simple volume purchase option (mentioned by Jim Hoffman) btw. We ALWAYS try to make our software affordable for educators and students and making them jump through hoops is exasperating. By the time educators jump through the hoops to make this happen, they have spent something worth much more than the money they save...an unacceptable amount of time.
Just my 2 bits,
Dave
I let one of the Apple 'Higher ups" know my stance on this just yesterday. We were SO excited to roll out our first 120 iPods next week. Teachers came for intense training this summer. They are ready! We gave them App cards so they could buy their favorites and practice with them over the break. We have all of our carts synced. Then, to clarify the recent email I received about the Volume Purchase Program we got on the phone with our Apple rep and the "Higher Up". The air just totally went out of our excitement balloon. I told both the reps on the phone that it's a good thing they couldn't see our four faces.
We were contemplating a vision for a 1:1 iPod initiative next year but even ONE 99¢ app would then cost us over $2600 for all of our devices. SO I think that's not going to be happening. :-( *sigh* When will anyone in this country actually put education where it needs to be in terms of priorities. We as a district will certainly put our emphasis on free apps and when we do purchase you can bet it will only be from developers who sign on to the educational discount program.
I loved the comment about Apple being the one to step up and make a difference in education - if they feel it's not fair to developers then work out a deal with the developers and let educators continue to do what we do best.
Guess what? The Storyrobe app mentioned above is no longer free. It is listed tonight as $.99. Also, go to Storyrobe.com and read their terms and conditions. Although it doesn't specifically prohibit use in educational institutions, it clearly says, " The Service is for personal use only; use of the Service for commercial use or for broadcast is expressly prohibited."
For what it's worth, here's a typed response to one of my questions posted in Apple's Webinars on the App Volume Purchase Program:
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[3:37:27 PM] Lucas Gillispie: Mike Marshall: If you have any questions, please type them here. We will answer them during and at the end of the presentation.
Lucas Gillispie (@PCSTech) (privately): Does that mean that if we've made significant purchases of apps on iTunes accounts we created for our schools that we will get reimbursed for our losses as we're forced to transition to this new program?
CHASE KELLY 2 (privately): No. not at all - you will not lose any apps that you have thus far purchased - you just gain the ability to purchase more in volume at a discount. You can absolutely continue to use the accounts and apps already in use at your school.
CHASE KELLY 2 (privately): Does that help?
Lucas Gillispie (@PCSTech) (Submitted question): OK... Thank you for that information. I will be copying your response to share with my team. Thanks.
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Not that clears things up, really...
You know, I don't think this would bother me nearly as bad if Apple were to simply say, "C'mon guys, you knew it was too good to be true. We have to do this to keep our investors happy." I'm really bothered by their attempts to make it sound like a great idea they had to benefit education.
-Lucas
I have spent some time pondering the Terms and Conditions and End-USer Licence Agreements that come with apps.
The key components that, in my mind, are of consequence are:
"to five (5) iTunes authorised devices" - in my opinion, an iPod is NOT an iTunes authorised device, as at no point are you required to authorise it, nor does it count as one of the five devices that can be authorised to an iTunes account.
"owned or controlled" by the user. The Terms and Conditions clearly state that content (apps/music etc) can only be transferred to devices owned or controlled by the user. To me, this says that if the 'user' is a school (this may not be possible due to the 'for personal use only' clause), then apps from a school-owned iTunes account should be able to be synced to five iTunes authorised devices (computers) and any other devices 'owned or controlled' by the school.
Another interesting concept is that it seems that a developer could create an app and attach their own EULA, which supercedes Apple's apparently, and include in this a clause that states 'the purchaser of this licence is able to transfer the app to any devices under their control/ownership', and then charge a premium fee for it, much like a site-licence, whilst still selling their indivually-licencsed apps for individual users.
This would allow a "one-click" purchase, with multiple-syncing allowed, and would mean that schools didn't have to go through the sagas that have been recently implemented.
I'm feeling lucky right now that I live in Australia, where this system isn't in use. But who knows when that will change... maybe when we get an iBook store!!!
Just at a curiosity, is this only for US schools? What about international schools? Thanks
This is my third year using ipods in the classroom. I have spent time learning how to use Apps, developing lessons and using my own money to buy Apps for student use. I have gone to multiple trainings from educators with the same understanding on App usage. Yes, Apps are wonderful and useful tools for students. If I thought that 5 five Apple-authorized devices meant only 5 ipods at a time, I would not have spent the time, money, and student time. Beside the amount of money it would cost per student, the time it would take to individually sinc some ipods with Apps and not others would be counter productive.
My hope is that Apple will step up with integrity and offer a fair school proposal that compensates schools for all the free research and advertisement that schools have given them on their products. Several of my students have bought ipods and Apple computers because of classroom usage.
$100 dollar increments? Are they crazy? We're not all big schools with massive budgets...
At the moment this system only applies to the USA (as far as I'm aware), so here in the UK we're carrying on regardless until such time as we're told otherwise by Apple.
@Deon: According to the AU Terms (which match the US version)...
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/au/terms.html#APPS
That's as clear as legalese ever gets that "buy once, sync to many" is officially against the Terms.
Thanks, Tom.
I'm guessing that has been included in the latest update (which I think came with iTunes 10).
It's good that it's clear; bad that it means one app purchase per device.
Although, it will encourage us to allow the devices our students own to become more personalised, which should be a good thing.
Tom/Deon,
I believe the US terms for volume purchase (still US only) are different than the consumer version.
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/volume/us/terms.html
Unfortunately, in either version, it seems clear that the "rule of five" is no longer an option.
The US terms include the following language that addresses the "buy once, sync to many" question in E. ADDENDUM TO APP STORE TERMS AND CONDITIONS , and only apply to apps, not iBooks.
(This is option 8a in my diagram)
******************
Solely as an accommodation to you, Apple agrees to permit you to use a single code to sync a Product to multiple devices, up to the number of codes you have purchased (instead of having to redeem a separate code for each license), provided that you meet the following terms:
*You agree to sync no more copies than the number of codes you purchased.
*You agree to keep complete and accurate records of all uses of the codes purchased.
*You understand that this accommodation may only be available for a limited period of time and Apple makes no guarantee regarding forward compatibility with future versions of iOS or the availability of this accommodation for new product versions.
*Apple shall have the right to request supplementary information and audit relevant records to confirm your compliance with these terms
Here is how it works. I spoke with an apple mobile engineer as apple was creating this purchasing option. Your purchase agent buys the amount of money form iTunes. Then, purchasing agent delegates out facilitator IDs to who is installing the apps. It draws from the account. Bang apps are installed. We are using this week. I will post on my site about how it goes. Http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com
Is it safe to assume that future price changes don't matter once you have the apps? I ask this because there are several educational titles on iTunes that we can DL free now - but they won't be free next week. If we DL them now, there's no activation code to purchase so I can distribute them as I do any other free app, correct?