President Obama acknowledges Apple in State of the Union Address

President Obama on Tuesday gave his 2014 State of the Union Address to the American people. In it, he praised a number of technology companies, including Apple, for helping with his ConnectED program, which aims to connect 99 percent of schools to the Internet via high speed connections.

“Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years,” said President Obama. “Tonight, I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we’ve got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and twenty million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit.”

Apple’s contribution to the president’s program will be significant and include support from many parts of the company.

“We are proud to join President Obama in this historic initiative to transform America’s schools,” Apple said in a statement provided to The Loop. “Apple has a long history in education, and we have pledged to contribute MacBooks, iPads, software and our expertise to support the ConnectED project. We look forward to announcing more details with the White House soon.”