There actually is a way of going back to good old fashioned effective curriculum, blended with an apple pencil and siri. You either get a bunch of really rich people or a bunch of states together to buy out SRA Direct Instruction (1960s through today, see Project Follow Through) curriculum from Apollo Group for about $100,000,000. Release it as public domain. Put the curriculum into PDF format for teachers to read the scripts and kids to choral respond. Have the workbooks and textbooks pdf formatted. Eventually put all curriculum into a database with siri so kids can go along at their own speed. Now preschool through 5th grade students can read, write, spell, do maths, and have some basic reasoning skills.
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Apple Launches New 9.7-Inch iPad With Apple Pencil Support, $299 for Schools and $329 for Consumers
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I'm a K-5 sysadmin. We get Lenovo windows 10 laptops that are touchscreen and folds into a tablet. 3 year warranty, white-glove service for 230. Non touch screen is 209. So these iPad are pretty much a no go.
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Not really...well I guess it all depends on the school district. Kids in my school district get 1 terabyte for onedrive.
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I disagree. For 299 + a case is a must for say $50, add in apple care for 70 and the pencil for 90 that's $510. Remove the pencil that's $420 for something that is still limited it what it can do.
I also work in the school industry and for a convertible Lenovo laptop that has touch screen, 3 year warranty and windows 10 for 230, this iPad just can't come close to competing. Not to mention testing is done on the computer (software wouldn't work on the iPad). The battery much cheaper to replace and easier to fix out of warranty, teachers have much more control what kids do on laptops Vs the iPad. (teachers are able to see all kids computer screens from their computer, share files, blank their screens whenever they want, remote into a students laptop, etc).
I really can't think of a positive that these iPad would have.
A little less than a year ago, I thought Apple had turned the corner. With new iMacs coming out and the promise of a new Mac Pro it seemed as though Apple was possibly listening to a customers again. This, however, makes me wonder. With all the options out there from Google and even Microsoft, I don’t see how what Apple announced today is particularly compelling.
nice, but no pressure-sensitivity and not being first party for future support makes it meh.
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are schools really using chromebooks? all I see is schools going with the surface.
Plus there's the small fact that it's only available to teachers/edu for now.
This!
Apple does not listen to us at all. We want a modular Mac Pro, so Apple says they will make us one. Will it be what a "normal" modular computer is? No, we probably will not be able to throw ANY Intel Xeon chip in it we want, it will probably have to be some "special" Intel Xeon CPU and same goes with the GPU(s)...they will be "special" to the Mac Pro (think how you have to flash current cards to hopefully get them to work with current MP's) and we will only have limited options. Oh, and whatever we do want to upgrade...it will have that great Apple Tax on it, so things will cost way more than normal because we will only be able to get it from Apple.com or an Apple Store.
I was actually impressed with the iMac Pro, however, I think people are going to be letdown with the Mac Pro. I really hope we aren't, but the way Apple has been of late, does not give me much hope. If the Mac Pro is not great, I feel bad for the people that have been waiting to get that instead of buying an iMac Pro. Also, I really hope they release it this year at WWDC or in September (along with some new MBP's) and not make us wait until "Early 2019" which in Apple talk really means almost Mid-2019.
Sorry, end rant.
That's what I figured, too. I'm still considering replacing my old iPad Air (32 GB White WiFi) with a new iPad Pro 10.5" (256 GB White or Space Gray).
Unless you're on a budget a $500 iPad Pro 10.5 has double the storage and DRAM so better future proofing which begs the question why Apple didn't offer this instead at an educational pricing of say $350. 2GB DRAM may already be obsolete when combining more complex apps on top of student and device management layers. Pay $50 more now for a device that's usable for 3 years instead of a device that you have to replace in 1 year.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/480548/105_iPad_Pro_(64GB,_Wi-Fi_Only,_Space_Gray)
They could have also offered the 9.7" iPad Pro, or I guess even the 12.9" with educational pricing, since you can get them for a pretty decent price right now. You get the laminated display, four speakers (which in my opinion makes a HUGE difference), Apple Pencil support...all things the 10.5" offers...I am just making the point the the first generation iPad Pros can be got for a decent price and with an educational discount on top...why not just do that. You also get Apple branded smart keyboards, which I would think would be MORE important for a student based iPad than the Apple Pencil. My iPad Pro is still going great, it can handle anything I can throw at it. I think even though the 9.7" Pro only has 2gb RAM, it is still quite capable and should be for a while.
I know that Logitech made one for this iPad but it is ugly as hell and I personally prefer "first party" accessories vs. third party...especially when it comes to support...the one thing Apple is still amazing at, at least in my experiences.
Oh, and for the 9.7" Pro, you also get the silicone case for the back which Apple could throw in for free really, but even with a good discount they would only be about $20.00 as Walmart and a few other stores are selling them for $30.00-35.00.
As explained, this iPad supports Apple Pay and includes an NFC controller to support the Apple Pay capabilities.
What it doesn't support is the reading mode, which implies having an antenna for that NFC and enabling developers to use that same NFC controller/antenna as well.
As you know, NFC is used for thousands of other use case scenarios than just Payments, specially in the IoT segment.
NFC was one long requested features by developers community and last year with iOS 11 Apple announced the Reading mode support for new devices starting from the apple watch, and iPhone7 onwards.
Unfortunately this new iPad doesn't seem to support NFC in Reading mode.
The lack of this antenna/reading mode, fragments even more the current hardware landscape for developers...
:/
This. Although personally I think chromebooks are garbage as well. I wouldn’t want either option this or iPad for my kid. Ideally it’s a light surface or MacBook because that’s the only hardware that supports they types of software they should be learning. If my kid was assigned an iPad I’d probably switch schools but then again I wouldn’t have enrolled there in first place.
School admin make dumb decisions based on cost with their salaries being the biggest waste in districts. But districts aren’t even capable of teaching or utilizing tech hardly. The teachers are too stupid. Much of the tablet buying is simply political bs that ends up being a waste.
Looking at the accessories in the online store, if I go in the Cases and Protection category and then filter by Compatibility for the new 6th gen iPad all I see is the Smart Cover. Is it safe to assume that it means the cases for the 2017 don't fit anymore? I can't see any physical changes between the two though...
Apple mentioned they'll be available later this week for in store pickup.
Here’s to “Classkit” being spun off into “FamilyKit” for iOS 12? I think of iCloud does what it’s supposed to buying products like an iPad or a HomePod for that matter would make sense to a family. It would be nice that Siri knows who’s talking to it I’m my home because of some “Magic” that’s involve due to a FamilyKit sort of situation
I know it is unlimited for Google. I am wondering, How many students, actually use more then 100GB, or even 200Gb of iCloud?
I do agree with the Keyboard though.
And if you are a Apple Fan Boy, you should know Apple has never competed on price, they would much rather do value add services. Whether the value, be it better hardware or software as well as services offering it good enough for its customer is a different question.
I think the best strategy would be to offer a educational iPad, but not for edu sales through their stores. Basically bulk buy only for schools. And sell them at a *gasp* loss to help educators and student adopt the ecosystem of Apple. This helps build a tremendous future customer base to buy all the other expensive Apple thingy's. They'd get their lost money back from the iPad sales tenfold. I think they could afford that investment.
You would think that would be a smart strategy for a company that will be worth one-trillion dollars pretty soon. Take the loss now, but when these kids grow up and are on their own, have families and what not...what are they going to buy most likely? All Apple products! Apple would make the money back more than tenfold. When someone really gets in the Apple ecosystem like me, they own multiple Macs, iPhones, Apple TV, iPads, iCloud Storage, iTunes purchases, Apple Music, accessories, and whatever else I am currently forgetting. I am all in when it comes to Apple, they make a ton of money off me.
This is Tim Cook's Apple though, and he does not like to lose money on anything. What they offered was kind of embarrassing, in my opinion.
Also, I realize not ALL of the students would buy Apple, but I think a majority would for sure.
They probably wouldn't get apple care (the one to one Mac schools I've worked in don't get it because they have apple certified IT that fixes things). So you're really talking $300 + $50 + $70 = $420. Again, remove the cost of textbooks at $200 each for every student in the district since the idea SHOULD be that the iPads replace textbooks through district/teacher created curriculum. That's a reduction of $600 per student every ten years. I have a 5 year old iPad Air (not the 2nd version) that's still strong on iOS 11 and has all day battery. We also have a 3 year old PC that can barely handle the latest version windows and is a virus trap (hence why districts get chrome books and not windows machines).
Also, in conjunction with the iPads apple released the classroom app which does exactly what you said they can't do - monitor an entire classroom of iPads, a single student, group of students, etc. It also allows sharing files and documents, and they released class kit api that will allow educational app makers to give teachers the ability to assign a specific assignment in the app so all kids have to do is go onto their classroom app, see their assignments from all teachers, tap an icon and go straight into the activity in a different app.
This is VERY well thought out and is doing what we teachers thought all this tech in the classroom stuff would do when people promised it would do it...but never delivered. Based on what they demonstrated, I would much rather my students work on iPads than chromebooks. And trust me, just like with the move to html from flash, state test makers (there's only like two companies at this point) will just release a dedicated app in order to create a secure testing environment using class kit.
Take a look at the charts here: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/ar...e-s-ipad-needs-schools-more-than-they-need-it showing how much of an uphill battle Apple has. Remember that they have tried to break into the school districts before but were sued (http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-unified-ipad-settlement-20150925-story.html)
For Apple, I think that is their intent. If I were Apple, I would definitely target the root where it can net the most gain for their business model: the younger generation(s). If they can somehow encourage schools to adopt their devices, it'll be a win-win in the long term for them. Personally, I think it's a rather shrewd tactic to use the schools as a facade for their underlying goals. There's some resistance on the forums here, but it'd be interesting to see how many see eye to eye with Apple
NO one should be surprised by what happened here.
Didnt know about the classroom app, that's good! The reduction of textbook cost ($200) applies also to the Lenovos we use. Grades 3-5 have all their textbooks online . So that does not benefit only the iPads.
So I'm still looking at an addition $200 for each iPad. 500 students at my school that's an additional $100,000.
Regarding virus on Windows, our computers are locked down that no student or even teacher is able to install any applications without admin credentials. We don't use flash drives either, so we haven't had any issues with any virus (have only been working their for 8 months though). Phishing attempts seems to be the most problematic.
For the past 2 years all the Lenovos we purchase cones with SSDs so they get the job done in a reasonable time imo. The ones they purchased 5 years ago are definitely showing their age though since they used an optical drive.
I don't see our district changing any time soon back to Apple. They have been warning all schools that they will no longer be supporting Apple products. Pre 2012, all laptops and desktops were Apple. Now the only persons in the district that has Apple laptops / desktops are some principals and technical schools.
Edit: I forgot to mention, you stated the Apple schools have Apple technicians. However, I am assuming warranty still remains at 1 year. With the Lenovos, it's 3 year warranty. So if a LCD goes bad on the iPad in year 2 then I am assuming the replacement LCD would have to be purchased by the school.
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