CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 17 Apple today announced that shipments of its popular iBook notebook computer to education tripled in the fiscal 2001 fourth quarter over the same quarter last year, growing by an unprecedented 205 percent. According to leading market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC), Apple was the leading supplier of portable computers to the U.S. education market for calendar year 2000.* "iBook sales to education tripled last quarter, further strengthening Apple's position as the leader in education portables,'' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Districts, schools and administrators, along with teachers, students and parents really love the iBook.'' Weighing just 4.9 pounds, the iBook features the first 1024-by-768 resolution 12.1-inch display in its class, FireWire for video editing, and up to five hours of battery life. The iBook also features the choice of CD, DVD or CD-RW drive for easily burning music CDs, or a "Combo'' DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for both burning CDs and watching movies on DVDs. As wireless technology continues to emerge as the future of computing in education, the iBook also comes AirPort-ready to enable simple yet powerful wireless networking. * In 2000, Apple captured an 18.2% share of the U.S. education portable market and had the largest annual growth in this segment of any vendor. From 1999 to 2000, the portable growth in the U.S. education market was 37%, more than twice that of desktops (15%). (IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Sept. 2001.) Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.