Natasha Singer:
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.
The research in question is this report from Futuresource. From the report:
At an operating system level, Chromebooks continue to gain market share, reaching 58% in 2016, up from 50% in 2015. The strong combination of affordable devices, productivity tools via G-Suite, easy integration with third party platforms/tools, task management/distribution via Google Classroom and easy device management remains extremely popular with US teachers and IT buyers alike.
And:
Whilst the growth of Chromebooks has certainly been a major headache for Apple and Microsoft, they are not standing still. Both made major developments through 2016, Apple announcing the ‘Classroom’ app and major education focused functionality updates on iOS 9.3, including the ability to share iPads.
To me, the issue is not Apple devices losing luster. As the linked report makes clear, this is about the growth of Chromebooks and the Google ecosystem. Google’s ecosystem is incredibly affordable, just perfect for the education market.
Except where the computer is supposed to do stuff. And be secure, and not waste time with ads. Chrome books are junk. Google has cancelled production of pixels.
Apple I suspect is more a victim of budget concerns than they are how good Google’s ecosystem fits their needs.
At the school I work in, they have tried to use tablets and laptops other than Apple’s. But the laptops turn out to be quite expensive PCs, because they run a specific CAD program. Tablets? Nothing else comes close to an iPad.
Google Docs is the lubricant and the common denominator.
As privacy becomes front-and-center I hope the leadership in our kid’s school system reconsiders using Google’s platform from K-12.
Having worked in a school district that had a laptop one-to-one program that uses Macs, I can say with certainty that Apple’s biggest threat in this market is the affordability of the hardware. Google Apps might be appealing because of its cross-platform nature and free price tag, but the up-front and repair costs of MacBook Airs are significantly higher than Chromebooks. Sure, the build quality of many affordable Chromebooks is shoddy at best, but the devices are a third of the price and, therefore, disposable.
The issue is made more complicated by schools with existing one-to-one programs switching to Google’s products while squeezing life out of existing hardware to meet budget cuts. Once they’ve transitioned to Google Apps, the transition to Chromebooks for the next hardware refresh seems like a no-brainer. And iPads simply don’t work as a laptop replacement at the high-school level, which means schools have two choices: “expensive” Macs or “cheap” Chromebooks. With schools being defunded across the country, their choices are often being made for them.
Well put, and totally correct in my experience.
Price, hubris, and Apple’s belief that education customers are just consumers with bigger purchase orders.
Failed and unfulfilled promises of technology advances. Ibooks anyone?
They haven’t made an affordable eMac type computer for schools in quite a few years.
Couple that with the fact that their ‘enterprise’ software (WorkGroup Manager, Apple Remote Desktop) has steadily declined in quality over the last five years, and it’s easy to see why.
I still have a lab full of Macs in my school, but we’re doing everything in Google Apps, and I am seriously up in the air about what I’m going to move to next.
Isn’t it a shame those who are promoting chromebooks in school never give a thought to privacy and I believe google is keeping track of the data of the students when they use the chromebooks.