Apple Introduces New $299 iPad Geared Towards Education
- Mehedi Hassan
- Mar 27, 2018
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84
At its education-focused event today, Apple is introducing a new iPad. The company has been lagging behind Google and Microsoft in the worldwide education market. Both Microsoft and Google have made significant investments in the education market in the recent years, which is likely the key to the success so far. But Apple has been falling behind for obvious reasons: its products are too expensive for schools.
And the new, $299 iPad is supposed to fix that. The display of the new iPad is a 9.7-inch panel, and the design is nothing different from most of the latest generation iPads. Powered by an A10 Fusion chip, the new iPad comes with support for Touch ID, as well a camera for FaceTime. Apple is offering a new LTE option that’s capable of delivering 300 Mbps, too. Apple says the new iPad is “more powerful than most PC laptops and virtually ever Chromebook” which is a big claim for sure.
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The 9.7-inch display also supports the Apple Pen and comes with an updated iWork suite of apps. The company will release updates to the Pages app, which will come with a new feature called Smart Annotation that’s meant to allow teachers to easily mark and share notes on their students’ work. The company is additionally bringing its Classroom service to the Mac and introducing a new Schoolwork app that helps teachers share assignments, documents, links, or anything with students. Students will then be able to access all the resources and documents from their Schoolwork app on their iPad.
Software and deployment is obviously a big part of any education-focused product. And Apple is launching a new School Manager which will let schools and IT Pros easily control all the iPads. Apple will also be offering 200GB of free iCloud storage with the new iPad as well — but only to schools.
Now — here is the thing: if you are a regular consumer, you will be able to get the new iPad for $329 and the Pencil for $99. But schools will be able to get the device for $299 and the Pencil for $89.
Apple is introducing a couple of other education-focused products at the event today, which is supposed to help the company gain at least some share in the education market. Whether the new iPad, combined with the new education services will actually help Apple gain some control over the education market remains to be seen, but it seems like a step in the right direction.
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Conversation 84 comments
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#256978"><em>In reply to unkinected:</em></a></blockquote><p>"I rarely use my Surface Pro for non-work as the iPad does it all."</p><p><br></p><p>Are you sure there isn't anything else besides work that doesn't fit the definition of "all"?</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257028"><em>In reply to lvthunder:</em></a></blockquote><p>What he needs to get done overall and what subset of those things he can do with his iPad are two different things. </p>
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shameermulji
<blockquote><a href="#256932"><em>In reply to TEAMSWITCHER:</em></a></blockquote><p>Considering that this is using an upgraded A10 processor, it's better.</p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#256948"><em>In reply to MikeGalos:</em></a></blockquote><p>"His comment targeted precisely the market that is now being filled by the Apple "Pencil"."</p><p><br></p><p>Wrong. His first comment on the subject was in 2007 when he asked "who wants a stylus" at the iPhone launch. He was TARGETING phone users, you know like those horrible Windows Mobil Treo phones that had a stylus. There others at the time as well.</p><p><br></p><p>His comment you are referring to in 2010 was a response to a question at the iPhone 4 launch.</p><p><br></p><p>Stylus does NOT equal Apple Pencil. The Stylus made popular, if you can really say it was, was to make up for a shitty UI on Windows Mobile. You needed it to hit this tiny touch points and such.</p><p><br></p><p>The Pencil is used like a Wacom device usually in a artistic way for drawing and such. You knows this to be true but your childish Apple hate won't let you admit it. You and Paul both have that problem with Apple. </p>
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shameermulji
<blockquote><a href="#256952"><em>In reply to Michael_Miller:</em></a></blockquote><p>The iPad Pro also has 4GB of RAM, quad speakers, ProMotion Display with 120hz refresh rate, plus a faster processor (A10X). Having said that, I get what you're saying. Apple will definitely have its work cut out for it with respect to convincing users to opt for an iPad Pro. To me it starts with showcasing "Pro" apps that will take advantage of the full capabilities of the hardware that otherwise wouldn't be possible on the 9.7" iPad.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#256967"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>They won't answer, they're still depressed over their mistake.</p>
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skane2600
<p>IMO, a $299 Mac laptop would have been a lot more useful for schools. But at least including FaceTime will give students something to do besides classwork when they get bored.</p>
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xperiencewindows
<blockquote><a href="#256972"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>We have ~2,000 iPads, different gens dating back to about 5 years ago. I'm pretty certain we've replaced every screen on every iPad we have.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#256991"><em>In reply to xperiencewindows:</em></a></blockquote><p>Sounds expensive.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257057"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>I would imagine a ruggized Mac laptop would work just as well.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257091"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>My kids went to a school that used iMacs. No massive IT support was needed, just one teacher who dedicated perhaps 10% of his time for support. You can make it simple or you can make it complicated.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257082"><em>In reply to MikeCerm:</em></a></blockquote><p>Yes, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective.</p>
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skane2600
<p> I note Apple said it was "more powerful" rather than faster. "Powerful" can mean anything Apple wants it to mean.</p>
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dontbe evil
<p>Bhuahuahauhuuah "cheap" iToy for school</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257054"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>iOS is fine for the niche it was designed for. It would be a waste of effort on Apple's part to try to evolve it into a half-assed desktop OS when they already have a perfectly usable one already. </p><p><br></p><p>This where Apple was smarter than Microsoft: They recognized that the two OS's served different purposes and didn't try to combine them.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257090"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>I have teenage children who don't find start menus, file folders etc scary or intimidating. They don't have any interest in "how or why a computer works" but like most people they don't need to understand these things any more than they have to understand how cellular data is transmitted on their smartphones to use them.</p><p><br></p><p>Given that young children in school today have, depending on the school, access to Macs, PCs, Chromebooks as well as iPads, it can hardly be claimed that they are being raised "100% on mobile". It's also true that not every pre-school child has access to a smartphone or tablet. </p><p><br></p><p> </p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257294"><em>In reply to JG1170:</em></a></blockquote><p>Really? My kids do it all the time. They are very logical about it. They generally use their laptops but use their smartphones when they go out or want to watch videos on the couch in the living room. </p><p><br></p><p>Obviously, not all people are the same which why unqualified statements like yours are simply false.</p>
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skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#257369"><em>In reply to Oreo:</em></a></blockquote><p>The misconception that many people have is that touch-based computers and PCs/Macs/Linux computers are in a zero-sum game. They serve somewhat different purposes with smartphones dominating in mobile-centric and consumption applications and conventional computers dominating creativity and productivity.</p><p><br></p><p>But relative sales numbers alone aren't really evidence of which type of device is most appropriate in the classroom anyway. That should be based on other factors such as cost, difficulty of management, appropriateness for the tasks students are asked to perform etc.</p>