At Chicago 'Field Trip' event, Apple emphasized education remains 'a big part of who we ar...

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2018
Apple CEO Tim Cook and other company executives repeatedly cited the company's commitment to education, as it unveiled new products and initiatives designed to capture the hearts and minds of students and educators.




In between introductions of a new iPad, new apps, and other initiatives, Apple's top brass had strong things to say about education, its importance, and Apple's place in it.

"We know our products can help bring out the creative genius in every kid," Cook said towards the beginning of the event. "That's why education is such a big part of who we are as a company, and has been for 40 years."

Indeed, education is a major part of the story of Apple's rise, as well as its various lulls and rebirths over the years, from the original Apple II-in-school programs of the late 1970s through the eMac and eMate all the way to the education initiatives that accompanied the original iPad launch in 2010.

Of late, the company has begun to fall behind its rivals Google and Microsoft, who are able to offer less expensive alternatives for the education market. The Chicago event- video of which can be viewed on Safari at this link, as well as Apple TV and the Mac events app- was an attempt to once again position Apple as a go-to technology company for education.

There were echoes of Apple history at the event, too.

"We do know that the best products alone can't create great learning experiences," Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of product marketing, said on stage at the event. "Teachers are the heart of the classroom, and we know it takes dedicated, passionate teachers to fuel students' curiosity, and to guide them to their full creative potential." This echoed Steve Jobs' "You need a person" line, from his 1995 Smithsonian interview.

Meanwhile, there were some less-than-subtle references to the competition at the Apple event, including the way vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak described the new iPad's chip at the event:

"With the A10 Fusion, this iPad is now more powerful than most PC laptops and virtually every Chromebook," he said.

At one point the event got silly. In describing an iPad app that uses the company's augmented reality capability to simulate dissection of frogs, Joswiak went into just how efficient it is.

"Students can place a virtual frog right on their desk- and they can explore the inner workings of that frog in a way they never could with a real frog," he said. "Instead of dissecting a frog, which can have both cost and safety implications- not to mention some serious implications for the frog -- students can dissect a virtual frog with our Apple Pencil." Indeed, one biokit on the market will run schools $183 for 30 frogs, making two classes worth of frogs equivalent to one iPad purchase.




Cook wrapped it up by waxing philosophical about Apple's place.

"We've always believed that people with passion can change the world," the CEO said. "We know our products can help bring out the creative genius in every kid. That's why education is such a big part of who we are as a company, and has been for 40 years."

"This is an important day for Apple. And we hope that it was an important day for students and teachers around the world. We believe in the power of education to create opportunity, and we're excited about all the things that are products can do to make the learning experience even better than ever."

Following the event, Tim Cook will be interviewed by Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Wednesday, March 28, with the interview airing on MSNBC on April 6, as part of a special called "Revolution: Apple Changing the World."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Im sorry but all yesterdays event did was to convince the whole world that they no longer have a clue about education and the needs at various levels that  are K-12.  

    No matter what Apple does with iPad it is not a replacemrnt for a laptop.     The integrated keyboard of a laptop is the key  to student productivity beyond about 8 th grade.  

    Beyond that iWork is crap especialy with respect numbers and its inability to handle even the simplest  spreadsheets
    hmurchison
  • Reply 2 of 8
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    Good job Apple . I believe they will do amazingly well over the next few years.
    I personally was very satisfied with the contents for education.
    Rayz2016
  • Reply 3 of 8
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Apple was deeo in education trenches during 80es and 90es. After the iPod/iPhone/iPad, Apple's focus was less on education which Chromebook and Microsoft took over in % of education market. If Apple wants to have middle/highschool and college kids to grow up with Apple products to keep expanding echo system than make sure to offer GO-TO models in Macbook,Macbook Air and Macbook Pro with decent Spec at reasonable price. One can not expect iPhone margin in laptop category but important to keep people inside Apple's echo-system.
    spinnyd
  • Reply 4 of 8
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Good job Apple . I believe they will do amazingly well over the next few years.
    I personally was very satisfied with the contents for education.
    Improvements to Pages (including the return of facing pages! I’m really happy about that)
    Boosting iCloud storage. 
    Cheaper pen. 
    No price on the rugged keyboard though. 

    wizard69 said:
    Im sorry but all yesterdays event did was to convince the whole world that they no longer have a clue about education and the needs at various levels that  are K-12.  


    Yeah, it’s never a good idea to pay attention to someone who thinks he speaks for the “whole world”.  

    jurassic
  • Reply 5 of 8

    I was a bit disappointed that the new iPad wasn’t introduced with a new lower price as was rumoured. The rumors were that the price would be dropped by $50 US, but the iPad retained the same $329 US price as the previous model.

    But then I realized that the new iPad is basically the 9.7 inch iPad Pro that was introduced just 2 years ago in March 2016.

    The differences are:

    iPad Pro 2016
    Apple A9X (2 cores @ 2.16GHz)
    12MP camera
    9 hours battery life
    $729 (32 GB)

    iPad 2018
    Apple A10 (4 cores @ 2.3GHz)
    8MP camera
    10 hours battery life
    $329 (32 GB)

    So Apple is selling the iPad Pro from just 2 years ago, with much faster performance and a slightly smaller camera, for just 45% of the price!

    When you look at it that way, it’s really not a bad price for what you get.

    And when you consider that the educational price of $299 is an even smaller 41% of the 2016 iPad Pro price, it is even better.

    If Apple can offer school boards and large schools deals on orders of 1,000+ units at a reduced price of $250, that would greatly alleviate the price hurdle that may be holding some educators back.

    edited March 2018 spinnyd
  • Reply 6 of 8
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    I'd be real interested in how many Apple employees have any actual in-classroom teaching experience. 

    I am very skeptical about the value of any of this. Students need engaging, current, and relevant materials to help them learn. That an eBook has a picture of a butterfly flapping its wings instead of a static picture has dubious additional value. Kids on the bus next to me last night. They were playing games and watching youtube. The "what's a computer?" commercial Apple has had running for a few months now makes me laugh every time I see it. It is absurd the little kind's life turns around that iPad - it would be dropped, destroyed, or stolen in an instant. IMO: schools need to stop looking for panaceas of education in tech. It's a fools errand. Invest in content, facilities, and teachers. 

    "Class, open the app for todays lesson. Yes, Jonny?" "I don't have that app." <teacher goes over to download the app with the password> "Teacher teacher! MyiPad is broken. Can I have a new one?" <teacher hands new one> "But this one doesn't have my work from yesterday on it. waaa. I'm a failure. Mom won't let me go to soccer practice." Now teacher is a IT specialist. And those are paid a lot more than teachers.

    My opinion. YMMV, and I respect your dissent. 
  • Reply 7 of 8
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    eightzero said:
    I'd be real interested in how many Apple employees have any actual in-classroom teaching experience. 

    I am very skeptical about the value of any of this. Students need engaging, current, and relevant materials to help them learn. That an eBook has a picture of a butterfly flapping its wings instead of a static picture has dubious additional value. Kids on the bus next to me last night. They were playing games and watching youtube. The "what's a computer?" commercial Apple has had running for a few months now makes me laugh every time I see it. It is absurd the little kind's life turns around that iPad - it would be dropped, destroyed, or stolen in an instant. IMO: schools need to stop looking for panaceas of education in tech. It's a fools errand. Invest in content, facilities, and teachers. 

    "Class, open the app for todays lesson. Yes, Jonny?" "I don't have that app." <teacher goes over to download the app with the password> "Teacher teacher! MyiPad is broken. Can I have a new one?" <teacher hands new one> "But this one doesn't have my work from yesterday on it. waaa. I'm a failure. Mom won't let me go to soccer practice." Now teacher is a IT specialist. And those are paid a lot more than teachers.

    My opinion. YMMV, and I respect your dissent. 
    Check on the Classroom article from yesterday, regarding "work from yesterday."
  • Reply 8 of 8
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    eightzero said:
    I'd be real interested in how many Apple employees have any actual in-classroom teaching experience. 

    I am very skeptical about the value of any of this. Students need engaging, current, and relevant materials to help them learn. That an eBook has a picture of a butterfly flapping its wings instead of a static picture has dubious additional value. Kids on the bus next to me last night. They were playing games and watching youtube. The "what's a computer?" commercial Apple has had running for a few months now makes me laugh every time I see it. It is absurd the little kind's life turns around that iPad - it would be dropped, destroyed, or stolen in an instant. IMO: schools need to stop looking for panaceas of education in tech. It's a fools errand. Invest in content, facilities, and teachers. 

    "Class, open the app for todays lesson. Yes, Jonny?" "I don't have that app." <teacher goes over to download the app with the password> "Teacher teacher! MyiPad is broken. Can I have a new one?" <teacher hands new one> "But this one doesn't have my work from yesterday on it. waaa. I'm a failure. Mom won't let me go to soccer practice." Now teacher is a IT specialist. And those are paid a lot more than teachers.

    My opinion. YMMV, and I respect your dissent. 
    Check on the Classroom article from yesterday, regarding "work from yesterday."
    Link? Not seeing it.

    The more I read about this event, the more it seems Apple is really interested in getting more schools to adopt computer and coding curriculum. I don't object, but let's not be blind to Apple having a stake in that outcome. Apple isn't the altruistic entity many seem to think this with the current spin. 

    Where are the hundred billion dollar companies that build houses in their support of providing schools with a lab to learn plumbing? House wring? Framing? You know...things that improve people's lives.

    Sorry, I'm ranting. Thanks to AI and the community for their coverage and insights.
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