Apple's Macs and iPads fall to third place in US classroom use
Apple's Macs and iPads have lost significant ground in the U.S. educational market during the last three years, in 2016 slipping to third place behind Chromebooks and Windows devices, according to new research.
Versus 2015, Macs fell a percentage point to just 5 percent of devices in the American K-12 segment, while iPads shrank five points to 14 percent, Futuresource Consulting said on Thursday. Apple's combined 19 percent put it below Windows' 22 percent, and well distant of the 58 percent owned by Chromebooks.
The market was more evenly distributed in 2014, with Chromebooks taking 38 percent, Apple 34 percent, and Windows 25 percent.
Google's Chromebook platform has proven popular with schools for a number of reasons, among them up-front price -- Chromebooks can sometimes cost less than $200. Maintenance personnel cite cloud-based provisioning for the Chromebooks as a positive, as well as the near-disposable low-cost of the individual devices as an advantage for the platform.
The cheapest iPad, the Mini 2, starts at $269 before any bulk deals. A full-sized iPad is at least $399, while iPad Pros can cost $599 or more. Macs are even more expensive, with the cheapest recent model at retail being the $999 MacBook Air. Until late 2015, the white plastic MacBook was available to schools for as low as $600.
Prices can be somewhat lower for the hardware when purchased in quantity by a school, but Apple educational solutions generally bundle support and software up-front. This can appear to inflate the contract cost instead of it being obscured by long-term ad hoc support needs.
Apple did make some strides towards better educational support in 2016, Futuresource noted. This included introducing a Classroom app for teachers, and multi-user support on the iPad, if only for students.
The company often touts its presence in schools, for instance drawing attention through visits by executives like CEO Tim Cook.
Futuresource observed that both Apple and Google were relatively marginal players outside the U.S. last year. While Apple held 11 percent of the market and Google about 23 percent (including Android), Windows devices dominated at 65 percent, growing significantly since 2014.
Versus 2015, Macs fell a percentage point to just 5 percent of devices in the American K-12 segment, while iPads shrank five points to 14 percent, Futuresource Consulting said on Thursday. Apple's combined 19 percent put it below Windows' 22 percent, and well distant of the 58 percent owned by Chromebooks.
The market was more evenly distributed in 2014, with Chromebooks taking 38 percent, Apple 34 percent, and Windows 25 percent.
Google's Chromebook platform has proven popular with schools for a number of reasons, among them up-front price -- Chromebooks can sometimes cost less than $200. Maintenance personnel cite cloud-based provisioning for the Chromebooks as a positive, as well as the near-disposable low-cost of the individual devices as an advantage for the platform.
The cheapest iPad, the Mini 2, starts at $269 before any bulk deals. A full-sized iPad is at least $399, while iPad Pros can cost $599 or more. Macs are even more expensive, with the cheapest recent model at retail being the $999 MacBook Air. Until late 2015, the white plastic MacBook was available to schools for as low as $600.
Prices can be somewhat lower for the hardware when purchased in quantity by a school, but Apple educational solutions generally bundle support and software up-front. This can appear to inflate the contract cost instead of it being obscured by long-term ad hoc support needs.
Apple did make some strides towards better educational support in 2016, Futuresource noted. This included introducing a Classroom app for teachers, and multi-user support on the iPad, if only for students.
The company often touts its presence in schools, for instance drawing attention through visits by executives like CEO Tim Cook.
Futuresource observed that both Apple and Google were relatively marginal players outside the U.S. last year. While Apple held 11 percent of the market and Google about 23 percent (including Android), Windows devices dominated at 65 percent, growing significantly since 2014.
Comments
On the other hand you're stuck spending $500 for an iPad and then you should also get 3yrs of AppleCare+, a good case and keyboard. I've mentioned this many times in other threads but Apple seriously needs to include the smart connector into ALL of its iPad lineup. One of the biggest downfalls of an iPad is the lack of a good keyboard that isn't bluetooth. The bluetooth keyboards function fine as keyboards but the batteries are constantly dead and charging them is an absolutely pain in the ass when you have a cart full of iPads. Its hard enough to get users to charge the iPads let alone a separate keyboard that uses a different connection than lighting to charge.
Macs are just expensive for schools. We have about 100 Macs in our district and students love using them, but they're expensive up front. They are however extremely easy to manage, especially if you have a management suite such as JAMF Pro (aka Casper MDM). For that matter, iPads are also easily managed with JAMF Pro (Casper MDM). We very rarely have issues with our Macs...PC's on the other hand can have its own set of issues.
In the end, schools are trying to save money and they can get this device for $200 and also have a pretty much free Classroom suite (Google Classroom) to go along with them. Apple on the other hand has absolutely nothing for the classroom. They depend on apps for iPads and Macs. That means there's a cost and it can be a significant cost if you have thousands of Apple devices. Apple does have Apple Classroom, but that doesn't do anything compared to Google Classroom or Office 365, both of which have classroom specific apps in their suite. iCloud does nothing for schools as far as classroom stuff goes.
Maybe in the consumer world Apple can successfully play with the upper pricing tier, but its not working as much anymore in the K-12 market, perhaps even Higher-Ed.
...performed by research firms funded by Microsoft and Google.
Ios as it is today is not classroom friendly on the OS side or the cost side.
This coming from an education side and with friends on the inside as well. Chrome books are the best solution for that classroom. This is an unbiased response. Just the sobering truth.
Spoken by someone who has obviously never used a junker ChromeBook, nor who values their privacy and is willing to hand it over to Google on a silver platter.
You can also use a management system provided to Google to manage ChromeBooks and you can use SCCM to manage Windows devices. All platforms have a management solution. Some work better than others and some are restricted by what the device can or can't do.
For example, make an ARM based MacBook with 128 GB SSD and an education-specific iCloud service.
Switching from Intel to ARM and cutting the SSD, combined with market segmentation, could probably get the MacBook under $1,000.
Alternatively, keep the MBA form factor around just for the education market and put ARM in that. Now we're talking maybe a $500 machine.
However, the graph does not match that info. Which is correct? The graph or the the text. Please update.
The reason this is exceptionally relevant in this discussion is because, those good meaning souls have decisively wedged their way into majority voting positions in school administrations and school boards throughout America.
the best interest of the children, education, long term use/value, tech etc., goes by the wayside.
Apple is an easy target!