According to Maclife, app developers today were offered a new paid application contract by Apple, adding an amendment to allow them to offer educational discounts when multiple copies of the same program are purchased. Developers must accept the new amendment in order to be able to add to the App Store, but they'll be able to turn discounts on and off via the app management area of iTunes Connect.

According to the amendment, "This amendment enables you to offer a 50% discount to education institutions on multiple copies of the same app as described in Section 3.1 in the amendment above. If you agree to participate, you can apply the discount to individual apps in the Manage Your Applications module, or you can apply it to all of your current apps at once by choosing Yes, below."

No official word yet from Apple on how or when these discounts will be available in iTunes, but I'm sure educators and students will look forward to the change. As teachers prep for back-to-school, it's certainly one step towards making mobile devices more classroom-friendly. (EdTechSteve has some other suggestions, while you're at it, Apple)