Analysis: New iPads will help Apple in education but probably not enough

Enlarge / Apple VP of Product Marketing Greg Joswiak speaks at Apple's event in Chicago on March 27, 2018. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

In today's Apple event at Lane Tech High School, Apple CEO Tim Cook reminded the audience that Apple has been in the education business for 40 years. I can't speak to the 1978-80 timeframe, but I do remember showing up for my sophomore year of high school in the fall of 1981 and walking into the computer lab to find that my beloved Challenger 2P computers, nine-inch black-and-white TVs, and cassette players were gone. In their place were a handful of Apple ][ computers with green-screen monitors. After messing around with them for a day or so, I decided they were an improvement.

That has been the hook for Apple in the education market for the last four decades: it's an improvement. Back when Microsoft was struggling to put together a polished Graphical User Interface, Macintoshes offered a lower barrier to entry for students and teachers. Unfortunately, that lower barrier generally came with a higher price tag.

Despite that, the combination of a dedicated education sales force, less-expensive hardware created for and targeted at the .edu market-like the eMac, and before that, the Power Macintosh 7500/75-and software tailored to the needs of teachers enabled Apple to make serious inroads in the school system. Apple's reputation as a secure platform likely helped in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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