Apple To Unveil a Cheaper iPad Next Week At Its Educational Event

Apple is holding an education-focused event on Tuesday where it's expected to launch a "low-cost iPad" alongside new education software. The goal is to win back students and teachers who have adopted similar products/services from rivals Google and Microsoft. Bloomberg reports: In its first major product event of the year, Apple will return to its roots in the education market. The event on Tuesday at Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago will mark the first time Apple has held a product launch geared toward education since 2012 when it unveiled a tool for designing e-books for the iPad. It's also a rare occasion for an Apple confab outside its home state of California. In Chicago, the world's most-valuable technology company plans to show off a new version of its cheapest iPad that should appeal to the education market, said people familiar with the matter. The company will also showcase new software for the classroom, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private plans. Apple declined to comment.

Comments

Good

[Dutch Gun]

Now that there's nothing more these tablets need to do, technologically speaking, they really need to start coming down in price.

Actually, I think it will be the same with smartphones reasonably soon. We've probably hit a technological peak of sorts, where there are literally no more substantial gains to be had by making smartphones more powerful. My prediction is that we'll see the high-end phones hover at the $1000 mark for a while, but they'll start sliding back down, as people simply don't see any added value for the minor improvements with each new model.

Oh, the phone makers will fight this kicking and screaming, of course, but I think competitive pressure will probably win out over the next five to ten years, especially as the novelty factor wears off for most people.

Re:Good

[Teckla]

Now that there's nothing more these tablets need to do, technologically speaking, they really need to start coming down in price.

I wish I could develop real iOS apps on my iPad. :(

Lack of mouse support really sucks, too...

Re:Good

[tepples]

You can develop real Android apps on an Android tablet using AIDE. If iOS as a host or target is an important feature to you, what features are you missing in Swift Playgrounds?

Re:Good

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The surprising thing about Apple isn't their relative unwillingness to cut prices; that's what left them reaping most of the profit in laptops and mobile devices and something will really have to scare them to get them to try to compete on price with random plasticky Chromebooks. The surprising thing is how unconcerned they seem to be by the fact that managing the damn things is miserable, labor intensive, and relatively costly.

For device management, iOS MDM is somewhat less dismal than Android MDM(fewer OS versions; no vendor specific 'does this depend on Samsung Knox?' nonsense); but for account management Apple IDs have stubbornly remained close to their roots as something that individuals set up, for themselves and by themselves; and iOS devices remain close to their roots as either single-user devices or single-app kiosk widgets. They have slowly made incremental concessions to management over time; but mostly in a direction that suggests that BYOD is the preferred use case; which is very, very, not interchangeable with 'organization owned and operated'.

Managing a whole bunch of Google Apps (for business or for education, architecturally pretty much the same thing) is downright trivial by comparison; either through their interface or with AD synchronization if you are doing an implementation alongside some amount of Windows infrastructure. It is...not impressive...that Google plays better with Microsoft's directory infrastructure than iOS plays with OSX's(to the degree that that even exists anymore, with OSX 'server' being allowed to bleed out in a corner somewhere).

Re:Good

[Dutch Gun]

That's just a matter of software, not hardware capabilities. That being said...

If you're attaching a keyboard and mouse to a tablet, aren't you pretty much acknowledging that what you really need is a laptop and not a tablet? We've seen several well-publicized, failed attempts at merging mouse and touch paradigms. I'm not sure why you have such faith that Apple could pull this off where everyone else so far has failed miserably.

Re: Good

[datavirtue]

The 12" iPad Pro is amazing and what I would consider the bare minimum at $800-900. I bought one for my son who is able to create impeccable art without any technological distractions. I am not an Apple fan...I own no other Apple products....but the newest iPad is near perfect.

Re: Good

[iamhassi]

My only complaint with the 12.9" is the 1.5 lbs weight is a little heavy to be holding with one hand and tapping the screen with the other. The 0.68 lbs iPad Mini is perfect but Apple never puts the latest components in the Mini line. I settled for the 0.97 lbs iPad Pro 9.7" but would still rather have it in the Mini form factor. At least civilization VI runs well.

Re:Good

[angel'o'sphere]

BlueTooth mice work perfectly fine on iOS.

Re:Good

[angel'o'sphere]

We've seen several well-publicized, failed attempts at merging mouse and touch paradigms.
You have some links for that?

AFAICT mouse and touch works exactly the same ...

Re:Good

[Teckla]

I was under the impression Swift Playgrounds was for learning the basics of Swift and not a development environment that could be used to create first class iOS applications.

Re:Good

[Teckla]

That's just a matter of software, not hardware capabilities.

I agree. When you said "technologically speaking," I wasn't sure if you were talking about hardware, software, or both. I agree that modern tablet hardware is more than capable these days.

If you're attaching a keyboard and mouse to a tablet, aren't you pretty much acknowledging that what you really need is a laptop and not a tablet?

I don't think so. For example, I frequently use my Bluetooth keyboard with my tablet. The tablet still does everything I need (for certain use cases). The keyboard just makes some things much easier. Like typing this comment. :)

We've seen several well-publicized, failed attempts at merging mouse and touch paradigms. I'm not sure why you have such faith that Apple could pull this off where everyone else so far has failed miserably.

Honestly, I think Apple could pull it off, but I don't think they will. They're too stubborn to try.

When I dock my tablet on my Bluetooth keyboard, it very much looks and feels like a small laptop. Reaching up to interact with the screen is terrible, though. (When I'm using the keyboard, I'm usually at a desk or table.) At those times, a mouse would be much better, similar to when using the BT keyboard is better.

But maybe you're right -- maybe it's not feasible to have a good touch interface and a good mouse interface on a single device. I'm not really sure.

Re:Good

[Teckla]

BlueTooth mice work perfectly fine on iOS.

Are you sure? From what I've read, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Re:Good

[Actually, I do RTFA]

The Microsoft Surface did a good job merging laptop and tablet, in that I've seen people comfortably use it both ways for real work and for play. NB: It's mostly artists, who love the ability to draw on the screen.

Re:Good

[angel'o'sphere]

Yes, I'm sure.
There are even Apps that let you use your iPhone as touch bluetooth mouse for your iPad or Mac ...

Re:Good

[Teckla]

It's not working for me. Could you give me precise steps? Thanks!

Re:Good

[Dutch Gun]

For example, I frequently use my Bluetooth keyboard with my tablet. The tablet still does everything I need (for certain use cases). The keyboard just makes some things much easier. Like typing this comment. :)

Fair enough. At some point, the differences are more about convention. By convention, I tend to think of tablets as mostly a media consumption device, and a laptop as a production device, but if that's really only because of the lack of a keyboard.

But maybe you're right -- maybe it's not feasible to have a good touch interface and a good mouse interface on a single device. I'm not really sure.

A mouse has greater precision, can hover, use multiple buttons, and has independent scrolling. So as long as you're willing to forgo those capabilities, you can certainly create an interface that uses both. But the catch is, I think, that you'll always need to optimize your interface for one of those input methods. They seem similar superficially, but are different enough that you can't quite use a common UI and still have it feel right for both. That's what really killed Windows 8.

I think this may be why Apple doesn't add mouse support. I'll bet they've tried it experimentally. It could very well be that it just felt tacked-on. Just a guess, of course.

Re:Good

[Teckla]

Good thoughts. I think you might be right. The only "solution" might be to be able to switch back and forth between "tablet mode" apps and "laptop mode" apps or something. A lot of extra UI work would be involved for each application... It'll be interesting to see where things go from here!

Re:Good

[angel'o'sphere]

Seems I was wrong, and you need special mice and an app for it: https://forums.macrumors.com/t...

Get 'em hooked while they're young.

[Immerman]

Does anyone really think Apple's goal is anything other than getting them hooked on their brand of opaque "computing appliance" at a young age?

Re: Get 'em hooked while they're young.

[datavirtue]

Schools rarely make good technology decisions or are capable of exploiting those purchases to thier potential.

Re:Get 'em hooked while they're young.

[iamhassi]

Yeah because it's so difficult to get kids to want to use iPads you have to "hook" them. Oh please, they beg for them, one kid at school gets one and that's all you hear about until they get one. And while the schools are using chromebooks for educational software they hold about as much entertainment value as a caulkboard (which schools don't use anymore either).

Where's the RoI?

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Even at a lower price, this is a lot of money for cash-strapped education systems to be paying for a gadget. So what's the benefit of pupils having iPads in the classroom? Show me the objective evidence that they serve some educational benefit to pupils that outweighs the negative research evidence available today, e.g. that reading texts on electronic screens results in substantially lower comprehension?

Tax payers are paying for these so companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, et a., should be held publicly accountable and show how their devices provide good educational RoI.l

Re: Where's the RoI?

[datavirtue]

Agreed. Why arent the schools required to show ROI?

Re:Where's the RoI?

[iamhassi]

ipads allow children to move at their own pace. Rather than every student slowly learning a lesson and then practicing what was taught and waiting for slower children to finish, a child can learn the lesson and practice and move on to the next lesson. They're doing this now with chromebooks but it's limited to only apps chrome runs while iPads run chrome and iOS apps.

Re:Where's the RoI?

[VeryFluffyBunny]

They can also do that with textbooks, which are much cheaper and more durable. BTW, adaptive testing (what the pundits now call "personalised learning") is no better than just studying everything in the book as most pupils already do. In fact, in some cases, it actually leads to lower learning gains because pupils spent so much time on repeating some items that they didn't spend enough time studying everything else, i.e. insufficient "strengthening" of foundational knowledge.

Re: Where's the RoI?

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Or even show that the pedagogies and tools that they intend to adopt have some decent independent controlled research evidence that shows exactly how effective they are, i.e. research that establishes causal relationships and measures effect sizes.

cheaper?

[arbiter1]

I think we all know that means its an ipad using 3-4 year old ipad hardware claiming its new but its just repackaged old device.

Re: cheaper?

[kenh]

Cheaper isn't the issue, manageability and survivability are the issues.

These devices add nothing to education, they provide distractions for bored students and incentives for teachers to offer children that finish tasks early.

Re: cheaper?

[Dixie_Flatline]

More likely 2 year old tech, like the 9.7â iPad from last year (which Iâ(TM)m typin this on).

But more to the point, *that's how technology works*. New stuff isnâ(TM)t cheap. 2 or 3 year old tech has economies of scale and whatnot behind it. The only way to make inexpensive good things is for them to based on old technology, not unlike the raspberry pi. Given the state of mobile processors and tablet components, I suspect you'll still see 3 to 4 years of life out of these things.

Screw the iPad

[DontBeAMoran]

What people need is a cheaper MacBook Air. Fuck retina displays, fuck USB-C-only ports and fuck those weak-ass lame butterfly keyboards.

Re: Screw the iPad

[iamhassi]

Chromebooks only run chrome so it's not practical. iPads and even android tablets do so much more than any chromebook.

Re: Screw the iPad

[Teckla]

Chromebooks only run chrome so it's not practical.

I think Google is working toward Chromebooks also running Android applications. I think many Chromebooks already do.

Lower price before or after ...

[fahrbot-bot]

... the US / China tariffs and trade war get going?

Re: Lower price before or after ...

[datavirtue]

Negligble tarrif....only meant to demonstrate intent. Pull up your pants.

So if I understand this right...

[mark-t]

They are making a cheaper, and inferior ipad to try and capture a piece of the market that isn't otherwise willing to spend the kind of money that an ipad goes for when an android tablet will do the trick just fine.

Re:So if I understand this right...

[AHuxley]

Next gen Apple LC. Flat so it looks modern and trendy. No Apple IIe Card.

Programming & Interactivity

[SuperKendall]

iPad Playgrounds are a really, really good way to learn "real" programming.

I'm still not sure about them for pure reading either, but tablets have a much better potential for visualization and thus comprehension of complex subjects as well, all in a more usable form factor than a traditional computer.

Re:Programming & Interactivity

[VeryFluffyBunny]

Show me one K-12 curriculum on iPad that is anywhere near as effective as an average textbook. Textbooks have charts, tables, diagrams, illustrations, and infographics too, BTW. Plus, video and animations for learning in all but a small number of use-case scenarios aren't any more effective.

Re: 800

[datavirtue]

I have seen them distributed in cases and witnessed ipads survive for years. The kids were allowed to take them hime etc...

Re: Thanks but no thanks

[datavirtue]

MicroSD on a tablet is no longer relevent. I would rather hook up to cloud storage than fiddle with little chips.

Re:Thanks but no thanks

[AHuxley]

Look at the average IQ and consider the non university end of that bell curve in a normal educational setting that can only afford educational priced computer devices.
Extra computer parts that can get pulled out and lost are not good in todays more inclusive educational setting.
One flat new computer is what todays educators can work with and what parents expect.
GUI software sold to the school that everyone can learn with.
Different students will learn at their own pace and in their own ways.
The challenges of small computer parts do not help education.
A nice new GUI and more of that Elementary and Secondary Education Act funding is what is needed.

Re: 800

[Type44Q]

I prefer the disposable ones, myself; the ones with the stick-on backing? More absorbent...

Swift Playgrounds 2.0 changed much

[tepples]

And I was under the impression that since the upgrade from Swift Playgrounds 1.0 to Swift Playgrounds 2.0, one could develop applications and test them on the iPad. From Apple's page about the product:

Swift Playgrounds also gives you access to iOS frameworks such as UIKit, SpriteKit, SceneKit, Bluetooth, and Metal. And because you are coding and running your playgrounds on iPad, your code can respond to touch gestures or interact with hardware such as the accelerometer and gyroscope.
[...]
With access to thousands of APIs in the iOS SDK, you can create amazing playgrounds that explore the web, generate 3D worlds, experiment with physics, and much more.

Then once you think your application is worthwhile enough to sell $5,000 on the App Store, either A. hire someone with a Mac to prepare your app for publication or B. take out a loan to buy a Mac and a subscription to Apple Developer Program and publish it yourself.

Disclosure: This is secondhand knowledge. I do not own an iPad nor a sufficiently recent Mac, and my specialization is on another platform.

When revenue on one platform outweighs the other

[tepples]

Let's say you have 4 times as many users on Android tablets as on iPad, but the average iOS user actually spent nine times as much on "bookings" (paid apps and IAPs) as the average Android user in 2015. This would mean your iOS revenue is likely to be double your Android revenue, which to some developers justifies making an app iOS-exclusive in order not to have to spend time=money working around deficiencies in the multi-platform middleware.

Too little, too late

[KlomDark]

The world has gone Android.

Apple got arrogant and their shit is overpriced/underpowered junk.They may have been the best 7 years ago, but that is no longer the case.

A thought

[CimmerianX]

How about instead of spending money on ipads and the extra costs associated with support, infrastructure, staff, replacement every few years when apple retires a model etc to support the ipads, schools could instead fix crumbling buildings, lights, buy new desks, provide better lunches, ...

My generation learned from books, blackboard, chalk, and a classroom that didn't have 60 kids in it.

I said "interACTIVITY"

[SuperKendall]

Textbooks have charts, tables, diagrams, illustrations, and infographics too

Too, what?? I'm not talking about any of those things.

I am talking about INTERACTIVITY. You can stay all of the charts and tables and formulas you like but it all means squat compared to a nice physics simulator you can mess around with parameters dynamically.

Kids could also understand chemistry a look sooner with an interactive guide to reactions...

I am pretty sure you don't want to keep poor kids ignorant of how the world works, but that is the end result of pushing for dead trees over live screens.

Again, I don't think tablets are great for everything. I think real books are better for reading (though I have to admit more and more I am reading ebooks now). I also think note taking is better done by hand than typing - though there at least, there are options for had writing to an iPad and being able to read/search it later.

Re:I said "interACTIVITY"

[VeryFluffyBunny]

As the saying goes, "Without data, you're just another opinion."

When the independent, reproducible research evidence shows learning gains that justify the expense, then it's worth considering buying the hardware. The last 20 years of education research (when reporting effect sizes actually become common practice) say otherwise.

On the "learning by doing" side of pedagogy, which "interACTIVE" apps fall into, it often fails dramatically because app designers and teachers are poorly informed about what it takes to learn from doing something. In Graham Gibbs' words, "Much can be learned from doing but seldom only from doing." Under these circumstances, so called "discovery learning", which is how it usually plays out in real-world classrooms, has consistently led to reductions, not gains in learning.

Re:800

[jellomizer]

If the schools would move all of its textbooks to the iPad it may offer some cost savings.
Each Textbook (hard bound, color images, high quality paper) Probably cost $150 per student, for 6 classes a day would be $900 per student in books. if they can get the eBooks for $10.00 a piece then that would be $860 and would save $40 per student.

That said, I am not seeing a real benefit off of this, as stated the iPad are more prone to breaking, and you can return a book and reuse it for a decade. While the iPad you probably have to upgrade every few years.

Re:800

[jbengt]

The cost of a textbook is not in the paper.