Apple wins $30 million iPad contract from LA school district [u]

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Comments

  • Reply 61 of 73
    juiljuil Posts: 75member


    «District staff, however, declared Apple's iPad the superior product. They said it wouldn't be fair to require some students to use a different, lesser product than the iPad.»


     


    I mean, boy ho boy!


     


    I feel for you MS... NOT!! And by the way "unanimous" is quite the rounding error :¬)


     


    Ok I’ll stop rubbing it in...


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Yazolight View Post


    678$, isnt it a bit expensive? 



     


    If you simply look at retail value of the device, yes that seems expensive... But public organization don’t mesure using retail value alone. For example; there is the device’s usable lifespan, failure rates, bundled software, security and maintenance costs, IT staff training and support and so on, and so on... So if the deal covers a period of 3 years and is inclusive of a lot of the costs of the upkeep for said period, it translates to $226 a year per unit (4 years=$170, 5 years=$135).

  • Reply 62 of 73
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Yazolight View Post


     


    Sorry to hear your dog just died being hit by a car, your wife cheated on you with the postman and your kid just repudiated you, what a bad day you had. I will understand and forgive you for being a little on the nerves :)





    Hmm.... talking from personal experience?  Sorry you had it so rough.



    Refer to below explanation.  Running a shop, be it a corporation or school, actually costs money above and beyond the purchase of any product.

     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Juil View Post


     


    If you simply look at retail value of the device, yes that seems expensive... But public organization don’t mesure using retail value alone. For example; there is the device’s usable lifespan, failure rates, bundled software, security and maintenance costs, IT staff training and support and so on, and so on... So if the deal covers a period of 3 years and is inclusive of a lot of the costs of the upkeep for said period, it translates to $226 a year per unit (4 years=$170, 5 years=$135).


  • Reply 63 of 73
    abazigalabazigal Posts: 114member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Yazolight View Post


    678$, isnt it a bit expensive? 



     


    In the public sector, I have come to learn that for many things, you cannot just look at the upfront costs and base your purchasing decisions on them alone. Remember that the pupils are your customers, and everything the educators do, they do it for their pupils. 


     


    Say I am putting up a tender for an external vendor to bring my school on an excursion, or conduct an adventure camp. The company putting in the lowest bid may be quoting such a cheap price exactly because they are not as experienced or capable as the rest of the competition. Their staff may not be as knowledgeable or engaging, or able to pitch the lesson in way that maximises the pupils' learning or create a memorable experience. Or they may have a poorer safety record. In short, they are cheap for a reason. 


     


    Once, my school needed AA batteries. The staff in charge of procuring them went for some cheap, no-brand battery that was practically useless for the tasks we needed them for (powering digital cameras and stuff). We ended up throwing the entire batch away because they began to leak soon after. 


     


    I would say that in scenarios like this, getting ipads should best be seen as a long-term investment. The simplified UI means that pupils likely spend less time and energy grappling with potential problems like inability to log in or connect to the network, leaving more time for lessons. If any issues do crop up, a hard refresh usually solves the problem. Apps allow pupils to focus better on the task at hand (compared to browsers running flash, where pupils can easily open other websites in the background), and App selection for the ipad is unparalled compared to the other platforms. 


     


    Granted, their usefulness ultimately depends on how extensively the schools use them, but I would say that it is money well spent. :)

  • Reply 64 of 73
    yazolightyazolight Posts: 118member


    Indeed, I underlooked many things. Thank you :)

  • Reply 65 of 73
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    yazolight wrote: »
    Indeed, I underlooked many things. Thank you :)

    The word you may have meant to use is "overlooked."
  • Reply 66 of 73

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    This is the problem with freetard remarks like these.  Do you think one can unwrap a new iPad and just give it to a student for automatic use in school?  There's software and services that need to be included and that has a cost.  It also includes maintenance and accident protection too.  Jeez... this gets old when people have zero clue.



     


    Wow. Harsh. Unnecessary. And you're considered the sharpest one in the room by how many?


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Yazolight View Post


     


    Sorry to hear your dog just died being hit by a car, your wife cheated on you with the postman and your kid just repudiated you, what a bad day you had. I will understand and forgive you for being a little on the nerves :)



    LOL

  • Reply 67 of 73

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    The word you may have meant to use is "overlooked."


    Or "looked under"?

  • Reply 68 of 73

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Juil View Post


     


    If you simply look at retail value of the device, yes that seems expensive... But public organization don’t mesure using retail value alone. For example; there is the device’s usable lifespan, failure rates, bundled software, security and maintenance costs, IT staff training and support and so on, and so on... So if the deal covers a period of 3 years and is inclusive of a lot of the costs of the upkeep for said period, it translates to $226 a year per unit (4 years=$170, 5 years=$135).



    Making it up ... a bit?

  • Reply 69 of 73
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    matrix07 wrote: »
    This's just show how risky iOS 7 is. This deal was made with iOS 6 in mind

    Or not.

    I suspect it was stability of the hardware, support options if there are hardware failures and the books/apps available for use that decided the issue more so than the UI.

    And the final vote was apparently after the keynote so they knew at least in general terms what to expect if they update the iPads or buy them after the next release. Although they are more likely to be buying them now since a track will start in July and another in early September.
  • Reply 70 of 73
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    ebergh wrote: »

    That certainly doesn't sound like they are buying an iPad for EVERY student if they are only sending them out to 47 sites!
    -eb

    Likely a pilot run at this point.

    And i took another look, no where did anyone say buy. They could have some kind of leasing deal in place which will allow them to justify locking down the iPads as the owners merely loaning them to the kids and be able to refresh them every 2-3 years with whatever is new. They used to do this kind of thing with computers (might still)
  • Reply 71 of 73
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    apple ][ wrote: »
    Lucky students!

    Imagine if they had iPads back when most of us were kids and still in school!

    It sure beats lugging around a huge stack of heavy, used books, with obscene scribbling on most pages.

    But I have such fond memories of my seventh grade health book with the cartoon penises on every page of the sexuality chapter
  • Reply 72 of 73
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    charlituna wrote: »
    But I have such fond memories of my seventh grade health book with the cartoon penises on every page of the sexuality chapter

    That seems endemic across the board, doesn't it? And you'd think with the real thing literally pages away they could draw a more accurate likeness.

    Now kids will have to touch-highlight the appropriate text, add a new note, and do something like "8===D" and "( . Y . )" on every page.

    Technology. It's ruining the finer* things in life.
    *as though it even needs a clarification
  • Reply 73 of 73
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Another area where working with both Apple and Google might be beneficial. Apple's hardware and Google textbook services

    https://play.google.com/store/books/collection/promotion_1000568_txb_product
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