New Education Features in iOS 9.3 Include Shared iPads, New Classroom App and Improved Apple ID Management

[ArtOfWarfare]

Hey Apple - Features aren't going to get these in classrooms, it's the COST that matters. Chromebooks are winning this race, over the past three years, Apple's market share been slashed by more than half, from 52 to 24 percent and Microsoft's market share has slipped from 43 to 24 percent while Googles inexpensive Chromebook now makes up more than half of all the computing purchases by schools. Get the prices down to reasonable levels and maybe you can get back some market share.

That's exactly what this does. By allowing multiple students to use a single iPad, you reduce the number of iPads that need to be bought, and you reduce the total cost. Apple has brought down the cost per school without touching their margin on each product.

 

[8281]

Yes, because Windows or Android come with all those features bundled in!

And with free management software, like Apple is offering!

Are you being sarcastic? Because I'm pretty sure android does have those features built in. Not to mention a boat load of web apps for chrome books that are half the price of an iPad and arguably more useful in a classroom.
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That's exactly what this does. By allowing multiple students to use a single iPad, you reduce the number of iPads that need to be bought, and you reduce the total cost. Apple has brought down the cost per school without touching their margin on each product.

You might be right, but that school administrator is still going to see a quote from Apple and a quote from Google for the same number of devices and choose Google because it's cheaper and includes a keyboard.

 

[AppleNewton]

I wonder if they could integrate touch ID into it, where it will recognize the print and sign in to that account as well?

 

[Mac 128]

So is this now some special thing that only schools can use (or families through pretending to be schools) - or do we finally get 'logins' / 'data separation by appleID' for our iPads?

It sounds like only schools ... but there is hope that it will be extended once successful used for schools.

Why would it be restricted to just schools?

 

[Sean O'Hayer]

Yes, because Windows or Android come with all those features bundled in!

And with free management software, like Apple is offering!

I would have to agree, this is very late to the game. Google has a tremendous jump on education and technology with the Chromebook (whether you like them or not, or use them or not).

I am a tech in a district that does both Chromebooks and iPads... and iPads can be a very sore subject (especially when iOS 9.2 pretty much broke all mobile management software).

iOS 9.3 is something they have been "promising" us for years. It is going to make a HUGE difference if it is done right.

There is a place for BOTH Chromebooks and iPads in schools, and this will just make it easier to get more devices into the hands of students, and faster.

 

[Rogifan]

Are you being sarcastic? Because I'm pretty sure android does have those features built in. Not to mention a boat load of web apps for chrome books that are half the price of an iPad and arguably more useful in a classroom.
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You might be right, but that school administrator is still going to see a quote from Apple and a quote from Google for the same number of devices and choose Google because it's cheaper and includes a keyboard.

And the feature set between the two is equal?

 

[Bevz]

Yeah but we really need this user switching thing on all iPads.... Anyone with kids will know exactly what i'm talking about

 

[69Mustang]

And the feature set between the two is equal?

What question are you actually asking? Feature set of what? No snark. I seriously don't know what you mean by feature set in relation to the comment you responded to from 8281.

 

[dumastudetto]

Not sure if serious. What would it matter to you specifically if it hurt device sales? I don't mean that in a derogatory manner. Genuinely curious. Please don' say "cuz stockholder". There hasn't been a corollary between Apple performance and AAPL performance for a long time.

If iPad sales took another beating because families only needed to buy one per household, that would have some impact on shares. It would also have an impact on future product development and where Apple allocates R&D. Anyone who loves iPad should not want the company to do anything that could harm the business of selling tablets.

 

[69Mustang]

If iPad sales took another beating because families only needed to buy one per household, that would have some impact on shares. It would also have an impact on future product development and where Apple allocates R&D. Anyone who loves iPad should not want the company to do anything that could harm the business of selling tablets.

The logic fails in relation to the topic of the post: iPads and education. If schools currently aren't buying iPads due to higher cost, then the ability to have students share iPads and spread that cost is a plus for Apple. That would potentially be iPads sold where they weren't a consideration before. Shared iPads will only help the tablet sales.

iPad sales have been in decline for a while. It never affected the stock price. Heck, the only thing Apple sells that could affect the stock price is iPhone and even those stellar sales don't move the ticker.

 

[macduke]

That's one way to look at it. The other way to look at it is they saw Chromebooks eating their lunch in the education market due to superior device management tools so they had to respond. And good for Apple.

Well yeah. That's what finally convinced them to actually talk to the people using it. The iPad Mini 2 is a capable little machine. I bet in volume they could get the price down close to $200. The Mini is perfect for kids.

I like to think in a few years when the iPad Pro is settled in with better features and you can get a Mini 4 for really cheap, you could do a Pro for each teacher hooked up to an Apple TV and a Mini for each student and the teacher can control anything on each student's screen and even share their screen with them and even do stuff like remotely draw on their screen to show what they should do next or otherwise help them. Could use it to easily take pop-quizzes and if she noticed a student with shifty eyes she could remotely activate his front facing camera and display side by side and see if he really is cheating. Of course advanced and privacy-issue related things like that would only work on the same network at school in "classroom" mode. There is so much they could do in this space.

 

[dumastudetto]

The logic fails in relation to the topic of the post: iPads and education. If schools currently aren't buying iPads due to higher cost, then the ability to have students share iPads and spread that cost is a plus for Apple. That would potentially be iPads sold where they weren't a consideration before. Shared iPads will only help the tablet sales.

I know. I was replying to a comment saying they wanted this for everyone so they could share an iPad with other family members. I think what Apple is doing for education makes perfect sense. I just don't think it would be a good idea to offer multi-user capabilities for home users.

 

[Zirel]

Are you being sarcastic? Because I'm pretty sure android does have those features built in. Not to mention a boat load of web apps for chrome books that are half the price of an iPad and arguably more useful in a classroom.

No, it doesn't.

 

[oliversl]

This is huge! I hope multiple profiles can be added to iOSX

 

[69Mustang]

I know. I was replying to a comment saying they wanted this for everyone so they could share an iPad with other family members. I think what Apple is doing for education makes perfect sense. I just don't think it would be a good idea to offer multi-user capabilities for home users.

iPad sales are already in decline. If multiple users were possible, it could be the incentive to get someone to get an iPad when they otherwise wouldn't. Especially someone with a family. Making iPad's a more attractive proposition is never a bad thing. Watching the continued decline in iPad sales & maintaining the status quo is a bad thing. iPad's don't sell like they used to.

 

[bluespark]

Sure. The guy who kept saying there was no market for the iPad mini, and who insisted 3.5" screens were the ideal would have implemented this years ago.

Both of those statements related to initial design decisions and both were correct. Neither meant what you're suggesting, though.

 

[tywebb13]

Sharing ipads might seem in the short term to be a more economical way to do things in schools.

But there is a downside ...... GERMS!

Sharing ipads means sharing germs.

So if your kids get sick due to germs from shared ipads and you sue the school, it won't be more economical at all.

 

[nicho]

Sharing ipads might seem in the short term to be a more economical way to do things in schools.

But there is a downside ...... GERMS!

Sharing ipads means sharing germs.

So if your kids get sick due to germs from shared ipads and you sue the school, it won't be more economical at all.

same germs you'd pick up from the shared desk the ipad is in? or the door handle into the room?

just make sure the kids wash their hands, and don't lick the ipads...

 

[tywebb13]

They are full of germs:

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-sty...ry-germs-toilet-seat-report-article-1.1459785

and telling kids to clean them before use won't work because they won't clean them.

 

[smulji]

iPad sales are already in decline. If multiple users were possible, it could be the incentive to get someone to get an iPad when they otherwise wouldn't. Especially someone with a family. Making iPad's a more attractive proposition is never a bad thing. Watching the continued decline in iPad sales & maintaining the status quo is a bad thing. iPad's don't sell like they used to.

For the non-education market, I highly doubt iPad sales are declining because there isn't a multi-user feature.

 

[recoil80]

Better late than never. Now bring this to everyone and not just for educational purpose.

I've been waiting for this feature since I bought my first iPad.
I'd like to sign in with touch id, with the ability to configure one ore more fingerprints for a single user.
I wonder how they'll implement continuity though. It can be a problem in a family if the iPad starts ringing and you don't know who is receiving a phone call because there are multiple accounts associated and you don't remember which account is currently set

 

[nicho]

They are full of germs:

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-sty...ry-germs-toilet-seat-report-article-1.1459785

and telling kids to clean them before use won't work because they won't clean them.

To lift a quote from the article,

"All those flourishing germs can thank today's busy lifestyles, the company said, with people taking their gadgets into the bathroom with them to multitask, or rushing from bathroom breaks back to work without properly washing their hands."

Teach the kids to wash their hands. I highly doubt schools will let pupils take them into the toilet to use (whereas, with a non-shared one, that might be possible. it's the kid's to tote around, right? facebook on the loo, and all that...) - so if you're going down that line of argument, these new sharing features should be more hygienic in an education setting (yay!)
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I've been waiting for this feature since I bought my first iPad.
I'd like to sign in with touch id, with the ability to configure one ore more fingerprints for a single user.
I wonder how they'll implement continuity though. It can be a problem in a family if the iPad starts ringing and you don't know who is receiving a phone call because there are multiple accounts associated and you don't remember which account is currently set

last one used? time out after a user-determined amount of time, perhaps (ie after an hour of being locked it doesn't ring for anybody)

 

[recoil80]

last one used? time out after a user-determined amount of time, perhaps (ie after an hour of being locked it doesn't ring for anybody)

That's a possibility.
And let's see how they'll implement multiple accounts on the same iPad.
You have mail, social networks and different app's accounts.
Each app would need to be restarted with the right portion of the user's sandbox so changing user could be fast but you'll start from scratch each time you login in with a different account.

 

[tywebb13]

Teach the kids to wash their hands.

You can teach them to wash their hands and clean their ipads. Doesn't mean they will though. They won't.

Shared ipads will get full of germs as a result.

Only safe way then is to not share them.

How to be economical then?

Do BYOD. That's Bring Your Own Device. Many schools are going down this path now and not getting themselves locked into 1 particular ecosystem.

But that will mean students come to class with all sorts of devices like old jailbroken iphones with ios 4 or something, android tablets, windows computers and macs. Maybe some with linux.

Will apple's new education initiative handle BYOD? Nope. They expect the whole class to have ipads.

So the teacher comes to class saying they have ios 9.3 beta and want to try out all the new features with their BYOD class.

Guess what. It won't work!

Schools will implement a BYOD policy with or without apple because it's cheaper. Apple need to coexist within that if they are to have a future in schools. Trying to force their ecosystem onto schools won't work either. See what happened last time they tried to do it: http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/ No apple. We haven't forgotten.

 

[Kajje]

Next step is having mulitple profiles on the house iPad, so I finally the missus won't see my iMessages proving I'm fooling around with that bird at the office. And stops my little boy messing up my Angry Birds high scores.