Apple retracts $899 iMac offer--or does it?

TechWeb reported Thursday that Apple's online Store for Education will be discontinuing its offer of $899 17-inch iMacs for individuals. The discounted computers were pulled from the Web site only a week after their first appearance.

Educational institutions, however, will still have access to the specially priced iMacs. They're $400 less than a normal 17-inch iMac, and come with a few downgraded features: a less powerful graphics card, half as much hard drive space, and no DVD-burning "superdrive."

However, it's unclear as to whether or not the "educational iMac" was ever really supposed to be available to individuals. A few posters on the MacRumors blog and discussion site speculated that offering the computers to individual students and teachers using the Apple Store for Education might have been a mistake. And the wording of Apple's original press release doesn't offer any insight, either.