Published in Mobiles

Apple furious that Google is beating it in the classroom

by on10 December 2015


7/10 must try harder

It is no secret that Apple is being kicked out of the education market by Google, and Jobs’ Mob CEO Tim Cook is furious about it.

For years Apple had the education market stitched up after all it could convince kids that they wanted fruity gear and parents always did what their children told them.

However then came the rise of Chomebooks which were much cheaper and enabled better education packages and sharing, exploiting that one thing that Apple never really understood – networking.

Tim Cook told BuzzFeed News today is not happy that Chromebooks are fast becoming more prevalent than Macs and iPads in classrooms.

He said that Chromebooks and other inexpensive PCs are really only successful because they're the cheapest option for letting students take standardised tests.

Cook tried to spin Chromebooks as "test machines" and claimed that Apple aims to do bigger, more impactful things in education.

"Assessments don’t create learning. We are interested in helping students learn and teachers teach, but tests, no. We create products that are whole solutions for people — that allow kids to learn how to create and engage on a different level."

As usual Cook is missing the point, and the danger to his business model. In just a few years, growth of Chromebooks in education has surged far beyond what Apple and others can match.

Google has predicted that Chromebooks will outnumber all other classroom devices combined by the end of 2015. Part of the reason is that they are much cheaper, resilient and do the job, a target market that Apple has never considered.

Last modified on 10 December 2015
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