Microsoft now giving away Surface RT tablets to boost Bing use in schools
Microsoft is looking to make a bigger splash in the education segment for both its hardware and search divisions, offering schools the ability to earn free Surface RT units in exchange for regular use of its Bing search platform.
Microsoft is already offering its Surface RT tablet device to educational institutions for just $199, but now the software giant is giving classrooms the opportunity to earn free units by using Bing. The firm announced on Wednesday a new Bing for Schools pilot program for more than 800,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Atlanta Public Schools, Fresno Unified School District, Detroit Country Day School, and a few other school districts.
With the new program, Microsoft will be providing an ad-free, privacy-enhanced Bing search experience for students and faculty. In this sense, the firm will be taking on Google, which dominates the Internet search industry in both market and mind share.
The Surface RT units come in as an incentive to get students using Microsoft's search option. Continual use of Bing generates credits for the Bing Rewards program. Microsoft pools the credits for each school, and when a school reaches 30,000 credits, Microsoft sends the institution a Surface RT unit with a capacitive Touch Cover attachment.
While the Surface units are only sent to schools, the rewards program is open to a wider audience, meaning that community members can put their own Bing Rewards credits toward a Surface RT unit for a particular school. Microsoft estimates that 60 regular Bing Reward users could hit 30,000 credits in about a month of use.
The move is just the latest in Microsoft's ongoing effort to generate interest in both the Surface platform and Bing. Bing is the second-most popular search engine in the United States, with about 18 percent market share. That is a far cry from the industry leader, Google, which holds two-thirds of U.S. Internet search.
The Surface RT device, though, has been far less successful than Microsoft's search efforts. Despite millions spent on marketing the device, the Surface RT is largely viewed as an unmitigated failure, due in part to the device's stuttering performance and consumer confusion over the Windows RT brand.
Windows RT was meant to give Microsoft a foothold in the segment of devices running on low-power ARM processors, but instead it split the Windows brand between the Modern UI-based Windows RT and Windows 8, which can run apps built for previous versions of Windows. Manufacturers have largely abandoned the Windows RT platform, and Windows 8 PC sales have underperformed since the OS' launch.
Microsoft is already offering its Surface RT tablet device to educational institutions for just $199, but now the software giant is giving classrooms the opportunity to earn free units by using Bing. The firm announced on Wednesday a new Bing for Schools pilot program for more than 800,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Atlanta Public Schools, Fresno Unified School District, Detroit Country Day School, and a few other school districts.
With the new program, Microsoft will be providing an ad-free, privacy-enhanced Bing search experience for students and faculty. In this sense, the firm will be taking on Google, which dominates the Internet search industry in both market and mind share.
The Surface RT units come in as an incentive to get students using Microsoft's search option. Continual use of Bing generates credits for the Bing Rewards program. Microsoft pools the credits for each school, and when a school reaches 30,000 credits, Microsoft sends the institution a Surface RT unit with a capacitive Touch Cover attachment.
The new Bing for Schools pilot program targets the L.A. Unified School District, where Apple recently secured a major deal to provide iPads to all students.
While the Surface units are only sent to schools, the rewards program is open to a wider audience, meaning that community members can put their own Bing Rewards credits toward a Surface RT unit for a particular school. Microsoft estimates that 60 regular Bing Reward users could hit 30,000 credits in about a month of use.
The move is just the latest in Microsoft's ongoing effort to generate interest in both the Surface platform and Bing. Bing is the second-most popular search engine in the United States, with about 18 percent market share. That is a far cry from the industry leader, Google, which holds two-thirds of U.S. Internet search.
The Surface RT device, though, has been far less successful than Microsoft's search efforts. Despite millions spent on marketing the device, the Surface RT is largely viewed as an unmitigated failure, due in part to the device's stuttering performance and consumer confusion over the Windows RT brand.
Windows RT was meant to give Microsoft a foothold in the segment of devices running on low-power ARM processors, but instead it split the Windows brand between the Modern UI-based Windows RT and Windows 8, which can run apps built for previous versions of Windows. Manufacturers have largely abandoned the Windows RT platform, and Windows 8 PC sales have underperformed since the OS' launch.
Comments
And they think that's the way to get tablet marketshare? Oh God. Microsoft doesn't get it.
Hey I use Bing! Can I have a free Surface too?
Not that I want one, but free is about the only price I'd actually consider getting one at.
If you can't sell them you have to give them away!
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/sap/chart-top-100-ipad-rollouts-by-enterprises-and-schools-updated-oct-16-2012/1274
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
Giving them away to schools? Is that how they can get business in the educational market?
And they think that's the way to get tablet marketshare? Oh God. Microsoft doesn't get it.
That worked fairly well for Apple a decade or two ago. Many schools had Macs knowing that if that's what kids grow up learning, that's what they'll want to stick with when they buy (or ask their parents for) their own computers.
Windows RT is dead, in fact it was stillborn.
Computers are not a silver bullet for learning. In most schools they're just a prop.
On the other hand, is it clearing of inventory before v2 of the Surface RT? Is this disposal? Even if people participate, if all they get is the last gen model or the apps for RT never really arrive then any good will is going to turn to resentment at being suckered into this program.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ggf
If you can't sell them you have to give them away!
I think that more than tablets it's about, "please, will anyone use Bing instead of Google? Please!!?!?!?!?"
I periodically see web ads inviting me to try the Bing challenge, saying that 9 out of 10 people prefer Bing results to Google. I tried the challenge myself -- the results are done blindly so you don't know which you're looking at, Bings or Googles. And 9 times out of 10 I couldn't stand the Bing results.
Until now, the only reason to bring up the Bing homepage was the generally gorgeous photos. Now you can earn a Surface too! (Which you might be able to sell and use the pennies toward a usable tablet that has apps)
Please stay on for another decade; things just won't be the same without you.
At first blush, this strikes me as an insult to education.
Does good educational software already exist for the RT platform? Anything compelling enough to make up for the implementation/management overhead?
Quote:
Originally Posted by djames4242
That worked fairly well for Apple a decade or two ago. Many schools had Macs knowing that if that's what kids grow up learning, that's what they'll want to stick with when they buy (or ask their parents for) their own computers.
It's still working well for Apple, their education program is bigger than ever thanks to iPad...except it is still a business to Apple, they actually sell them and make money.
"What are we gonna do will all these surfaces that no-one wants?"
"Give them away."
It will give them Good Publicity. The Guardian ( the new Samsung Rumor site ) and The BBC will use it to bash Apple.
I can see the band and dance classes using them for their neato clickety-clack sounds when attaching the keyboard.