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.
Related: L.A.'s iPad-Friendly School Superintendent Resigns Under a Cloud
Los Angeles Schools Halve Email Retention after Scandal
Los Angeles Schools iPad Program Target of Federal Criminal Probe
NH School District: One Chromebook Per Student by 2018; Paper Textbooks Going
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Techdirt reports
In a set of strange coincidences not unlike those surrounding the IRS/Lois Lerner email disappearance, the Los Angeles Unified school board has decided it will only retain internal emails for one year going forward.
The Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday to buy a Microsoft email archiving service programmed to automatically destroy staff emails after one year.
Why only one year? According to the Chief Information Officer of the school district, the one year limit is mandated by district policy(PDF) -- which is handy, but likely not the real reason. (Keeping all those bytes is considered "too expensive.") After all, if this policy was already in force, why the vote on retention limits?
More likely, this decision was prompted by recent events -- namely the publication of emails more than a year old.The decision comes less than three weeks after KPCC published two-year-old internal emails that raised questions about whether Superintendent John Deasy's meetings and discussions with Apple and textbook publisher Pearson influenced the school district's historic $500 million technology contract.
KTLA TV reports:
Beleaguered Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy announced [October 16] that he had tendered his resignation. Deasy would stay on with the district on a special assignment through the end of the year, according to a join[sic] statement from the superintendent and the school district. [...] As part of the severance agreement, he would receive about 60 days' pay, which would equal about $60,000, according to the paper.
Deasy, 53, has led the nation's second-largest school district for 3.5 years. During that time, he has faced much scrutiny and criticism, particularly over a technology program that he pushed for which would have spent more than $1 billion to provide an iPad to every student, teacher and administrator at LAUSD schools.
The program was suspended in August after it was discovered that Deasy and his top deputy had ties to Apple executives and the company that was providing the curriculum for the iPads.
Update: Los Angeles Schools iPad Program Target of Federal Criminal Probe
No sooner had I submitted about the previous development ($500 Chromebooks or $700 iPads) [Eds Note: See Below] when the defecation contacted the rotary ventilator again.
The Daily Breeze reports:
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines is scuttling the district's iPad curriculum contract with Pearson in the wake of an FBI probe of the deal.
According to documents released December 2, as part of a criminal investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal grand jury will weigh information pertaining to Los Angeles Unified's plan to buy $1.3 billion in iPads.[1]
The federal probe--which dispatched FBI agents to collect 20 boxes of records from LAUSD's headquarters Monday afternoon--along with a report from LAUSD's inspector general, prompted Superintendent Ramon Cortines to ditch the controversial deal with Apple and Pearson.
[...]While Cortines had hoped students at 27 schools in the next phase would have the devices this school year, they will now have to wait until fall 2015.
[1] I can't believe that the Daily Breeze editor allowed that sentence to go through in its original form.
The Peterborough, New Hampshire Ledger-Transcript reports
The ConVal School District[1] will provide every middle school and high school student a Chromebook laptop by the 2017-18 school year, as textbooks, homework, and lessons all go digital.
[...] Administrators couldn't emphasize enough how essential it is for students to move out of the "print, paper world". [...] The U.S. Department of Education found students that had access to a computer anywhere, anytime "became more creative, more collaborative, and better writers", while University of Kentucky researchers wrote "improvements in writing, literacy, science, exam scores, and GPAs all have been noted in various research studies".
[...] The district will buy the Chromebooks over three years. [...] There are already 266 Chromebooks in use at the middle schools and high school. To implement the one-to-one model, the district first must upgrade the technology infrastructure of the three schools in 2016-17. [...] It would then buy 662 more Chromebooks in 2017-18.
[...] The dean of faculty at the high school, said money will be saved not having to buy newer versions of textbooks.[2]
[...] Administrators have considered either buying insurance for each device at $20 to $25 a year, or a student and their parents becoming responsible for paying to fix or replace the device if it is damaged. [...] The district also hopes to make arrangements with its member towns and libraries so if a student lacks Internet access at home, it can use the WiFi at municipal buildings.
[1] Does not degrade gracefully; black text on a black background in the HTML styling.
[2] It appears that the district is still using digital versions of traditional textbooks rather than using an Open Knowledge model.
Microsoft reportedly working on $400 Surface tablets to compete with the iPad
Microsoft is working on a new line of budget Surface tablets to better compete with Apple's low-cost iPad options, according to a report from Bloomberg.
According to the report, the new Surface tablets won't just be smaller, cheaper Surface Pros. Rather, Microsoft is said to be completely redesigning the devices, with 10-inch screens instead of the 12-inch size currently found on the Surface Pro, rounded corners that more resemble an iPad than the more rectangular Surface design, and USB-C for charging. Most importantly, priced at $400, they will be more in line with Apple's cheaper tablets, too.
Google also recently introduced an education-oriented ChromeOS tablet to compete with Apple's iPad.
Also at Laptop Magazine.
Related: Microsoft to Challenge Education-Oriented Chromebooks With Windows 10 Laptops Priced From $189
Apple Expected to Compete Against Chromebooks With Cheaper Education-Focused iPads
ChromeOS Gains the Ability to Run Linux Applications
Google has quietly crept out of the tablet business, removing the "tablets" heading from its Android page. Perhaps it hoped no one would notice on a Friday and by Monday it would be old news, but Android Police caught them in the act. It was there yesterday, but it's gone today.
[...] Google in particular has struggled to make Android a convincing alternative to iOS in the tablet realm, and with this move has clearly indicated its preference for the Chrome OS side of things, where it has inherited the questionable (but lucrative) legacy of netbooks. They've also been working on broadening Android compatibility with that OS. So it shouldn't come as much surprise that the company is bowing out.
[...] Google's exit doesn't mean Android tablets are done for, of course. They'll still get made, primarily by Samsung, Amazon and a couple of others, and there will probably even be some nice ones. But if Google isn't selling them, it probably isn't prioritizing them as far as features and support.
Also at 9to5Google.
Related: All New Chromebooks to Support Android Apps
The first Chrome OS tablet is here
Apple Expected to Compete Against Chromebooks With Cheaper Education-Focused iPads
ChromeOS Gains the Ability to Run Linux Applications
Ask the Community: In the Market for a Modern Tablet
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:47AM (6 children)
Someone's kid was showing me his iPad, and it was the most atrocious trash I've ever seen in my life.
Nothing but advertisements, flying colors, and whizbang sound effects.
I would never let my kids touch this junk.
Get an old Pentium III, and teach them to program it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @05:54AM (4 children)
Yeah, how about not getting our kids used to proprietary devices? If schools are to use software, it should have to be Free Software except in cases where reverse engineering is taught (which should also be legal, of course). Why are schools - ostensibly institutions that promote education - forcing kids to use devices which are antithetical to independence, freedom, and education? This should just be illegal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:06AM (2 children)
You can easily bypass all this "There should be a law!!!1111" nonsense.
Just remove government from the business of education; there needs to be a Separation of Education and State.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Tuesday March 27 2018, @12:37PM (1 child)
Speaking in a US-centric manner (which I assume you were due to that "separation" remark:) Not until you can guarantee a system that does a better job. Despite its shortcomings, which are many and varied, the public education system manages to expose people to the basics. Everyone needs to be exposed to at least the basics. Which is not to say they're going to absorb them. Still, they have the opportunity to absorb them, and that's the true path to the nearest we can come to equality: everyone should be offered equal opportunity, but what they make of it is their own affair.
The more educated the population is, the better the whole nation works. So a minimum of a basic education for all is a critical moving part in the machine.
Do a better job of that, I'm all for your idea. Otherwise, no way.
Also, speaking of (in)equality, you want private edumacation, you can get it right now, as long as your pockets can cover it. It's not like there aren't alternatives already, and some of them are really good.
Of course, you can take a hand in educating your kids — nothing stopping you there other than your own choices and abilities. And since you're bitching about the current education system, I'm sure you can do a better job. Right?
My parents worked hard to see to it that public school was not the entirety of my education, and I ended up way, way ahead of the average HS graduate as a result. Cost them a little bit — their time, a chemistry set here, a microscope there, a whole raft of TTL chips and electronic parts and a huge rock collection, that sort of thing — but it took well and I benefited enormously from it all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @08:19PM
Hell, a freer "public" sector (via charter schools) does a better job.
I think you are failing to appreciate 2 things:
The public school system puts an enormous amount of resources behind resisting change, especially change that would hold the employees more accountable. FFS, public school teachers automatically receive "tenure" after 2 years of just doing their basic job.
It's really hard to compete with a violently imposed monopoly; you yourself have to fund the very people with whom you're competing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @07:49AM
I'd be just as worried about proprietary *content*.
The submitter did a good job of finding previous stories.
The ones that mention content company Pearson (which doesn't support a wide number of platforms) would steer you to collusion-related topics.
I also remember that the kids had the lockouts on the hardware|configs cracked in short order.
That stuff was well over 3 years ago.
Since then, we've had stories on folks developing non-proprietary content. [soylentnews.org]
One wonders about how much of that the latest batch of buyers are aware.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 27 2018, @03:23PM
Get a pi-hole and stop advertisements, before they make it onto your network.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:03AM (7 children)
I have spent a lot of money on Apple stuff, but I'd NEVER own an iPad. ( I do own a Macbook Pro Retina 15" and I like it quite a lot ).
The iPad is too limited to be worth owning, for anyone who actually wants to get work done. Steve Jobs used to rail against devices which were useful only for consuming rather than for producing, yet in my view that's exactly what the iPad is : a device for consuming.
Regarding the Chromebook, let's just say I trust Google about as much as I would trust a crackhead who is looking for his next bag of dope. Actually I would trust the crackhead more, because the crackhead's behavior would be more predictable.
No way I would want children using either of these options. Both options fall under the "spend less, get a lot less" heading, in my opinion.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:06AM (5 children)
So what would you have them use? The Chromebooks, combined with Google Classroom do provide greater productivity, so I will reject any answer which is, or equivalent to, "go back to paper and pencils".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:09AM
The governments of the United States (at least) have failed at even producing competency in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
So, what's wrong with paper and pencil? How are proprietary and preposterously complex devices going to improve things?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:18AM (1 child)
Do you value freedom, education, and independence? If so, then you need to be opposed to these proprietary devices being used by schools, since they come loaded with non-free proprietary user-subjugating software. If it's not Free Software, then schools should not be using it except perhaps if they are teaching students how to reverse engineer proprietary software.
I also don't trust Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. with anyone's privacy. It is especially unethical to force such services and devices on children, regardless of what promises these companies make about privacy.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with just using paper and pencils for the majority of the work. Where did you get the idea that there was? If anything, computers are often a distraction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:41AM
Your position goes out the windows when you institute a Separation of School and State.
For hundreds of years there was religions warfare, as various factions struggled to gain control of the State's guns. Then, the United States came up with the idea of a Separation of Church and State, and the religious warfare basically ceased (until people put Gov in charge of paying for Abortions, and teaching Evolution, etc.)
Get government OUT of our lives, and then we can finally live and let live. You pay for your bullshit, and I'll pay for my bullshit, and we can come together on 4 July to have some fun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:38AM (1 child)
"So what would you have them use?"
*
*
A used Macbook Air would be my choice. Sure, some parents are unable to afford buying one, but most families could IF they really wanted to do so.
The other poster is quite correct though, about your ( asinine ) rejection of pencil and paper. A computer doesn't teach anything but how to use a computer. Many great things were designed using slide rules and drafting pencils. You people who are not old enough to recall the days before personal computers have your heads up your asses regarding how important a computer really is in a grade school or high school setting.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday March 27 2018, @03:46PM
You just showed that you don't understand the issues. You simply don't understand the problem space.
The kids don't just use the Chromebooks in a vacuum. I was quite specific that the replacement needs to encompass not just the Chromebooks, but also Google Classroom.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday March 27 2018, @12:47PM
Until he realized how much money there is to be made from selling one. In the end it's about money. It's always about money.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:07AM
hobbled shit competing with hobbled shit, and the losers are the poor students, parents and schools.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @06:38AM
i'd like an ipaddle to paddle my naughty buttocks!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday March 27 2018, @09:03AM
The first Chrome OS tablet is here: Acer’s announcement comes a day before Apple’s new iPad [theverge.com]
Chromebook tablets for versatile learning [www.blog.google]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @10:38AM (1 child)
A few years ago we had a push for "Steve Jobs" schools (teaching with compulsory iPads and such) here in The Netherlands. A few weeks ago I heard that a large part of those schools are migrating their teaching methods back again because overall student performance was poorer than before.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27 2018, @07:32PM
Yeah... without some amazing content and actually useful educational software using computers in the classroom is just dumb. It must improve in every way on the flexibility of paper/pen and offer extra value such as better feedback and exploration methods for students to learn.
(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.