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Apple is ready to fight Google's Chromebooks with cheaper iPads
Apple has a big problem. Just five years ago, its iPads and Mac laptops reigned supreme in US classrooms, accounting for half of all mobile devices shipped to schools in 2013. Apple has now slipped behind both Google and Microsoft in US schools with Google's Chromebooks leading the way in classrooms, securing nearly 60 percent of shipments in the US as overall iPad sales declined for three straight years. Apple is now ready to strike back against Chromebooks with some cheaper iPads.
Apple is holding a special education-focused event on Tuesday that promises "creative new ideas for teachers and students." Rumors suggest Apple is preparing to launch a $259 budget iPad model this year, while Bloomberg reports that a "low-cost iPad" will be announced alongside new education software. The new iPad could even support a stylus, like the Apple Pencil found on the more expensive iPad Pro models.
The article notes a cancelled $1 billion program to give iPads to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Administering the iPads back then wasn't easy, but Chromebooks store their data in the cloud. If a student forgets their Chromebook at home, they can log in to another device using their Google account. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized Google's G Suite for Education for storing students' personal information in the cloud without their knowledge or consent.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by zafiro17 on Tuesday March 27 2018, @02:10PM (1 child)
Apple's going to have some trouble here: it's not just about the price. Google did the hard work of putting people in classrooms to watch how students interact with devices and how teachers are forced to manage them. The chromebook proposition is way stronger than just the hardware, and the price is a small part of the allure. The chromebook ecosystem comes with pretty robust and user-friendly management systems that make the Chromebooks a great deployment proposition.
A bunch of ipads, no matter what the price, can't compete there until they've built out the whole management systems/software ecosystem that accompanies it.
Appreciating the nerd rage about proprietary hardware blah blah, but it's more complicated than that.
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BK on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:02PM
Basically this.
Chromebooks are a breeze to manage. Most of the options you need are built in. App install is painless. Account management is easy enough to be turned over to junior techs. Command line and scripting options exist to handle the big stuff. Or if I am committed to my Windoze servers, I can tie the whole thing to AD. Best practices are known. Management in most school districts is basically the same everyplace.
iPads not so much. You are forced to find a third party solution because the Apple management options are so limited. iPads really don't understand user accounts. Scripting doesn't exist. Nobody does the same thing in the same way. There are no best practices (except avoidance).
I can get a Chromebook that has a keyboard. In fact they all basically do. For $200. I can get a chromebook with a touch screen. I can get a chromebook that converts into a tablet. For $300. I can get a mouse to work with a Chromebook. Chromebooks have headphone jacks. Chromebooks work great with USB headphone/mic sets.
...but you HAVE heard of me.