Apple announced on Tuesday, during a press event at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago that it will be releasing a new 9.7 inch iPad targeted towards students.
Trying to challenge Google and Microsoft’s dominance in school tablets, Apple has announced this cheaper version of the iPad.
Schools will be able to procure the new iPad at $299, while the retail price of the new iPad will be $329. Preorder is available and the iPad will arrive in stores shortly.
There are couples of bonuses also on offer for students. Schools will be able to access 200GB of iCloud and will have an option of procuring the Apple Pencil for $89 instead of $99.
To make it easier for students to share tablets in class, there is also an Apple School Manager program for creating Apple ID’s for every student
This announcement marks Apple’s most eminent iPad initiative since its partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School district in 2013.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the program fell apart largely because of problems with the educational software on the iPad, which was supplied by Pearson
This time Apple’s custom-made software is on offer to make the iPads more effective for school usage.
Apple has also introduced a new app called Schoolwork which makes it possible for teachers to virtually dole out learning materials to students and see their progress on assignments.
Google and Microsoft are also releasing new technologies and products designed for school students. In a collaboration of sorts, Acer and Google, on Monday, debuted a new tablet powered by the search giant’s Chrome OS software called the Chromebook Tab 10. Microsoft also introduced a $189 Lenovo PC designed for schools, earlier this year.
The competition for Apple is getting stiffer and stiffer and Apple surely wants to maintain its market share and keep the big piece of the pie for itself.
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