In Apple’s March email focused on education users Apple has (possibly inadvertently) announced plans to offer a 17″ iMac starting at $899.
It is possible that this was a typo but it seems unlikely. It is much more likely that Apple had finally heard enough complaining from education customers regarding the pricing of the low end iMac.
The new 17″ iMac will probably be much like the eMac in which it will be available in larger quantities to education customers but most likely not to regular consumers, unless purchased through a reseller.
This new 17″ model has only been mentioned on the email newsletter and isn’t referenced at all on Apple’s website or any other reseller websites.