Apple’s record quarter in education: iPad has 94% of tablet market

Apple had its best quarter ever in education, CEO Tim Cook said today on the company’s quarterly earnings call. That includes the companies highest sales ever, and a 94 percent tablet market share for iPad.

A 94 percent share of the education tablet market is good for Apple, but is it good for education? As the saying goes, “there is nothing like good competition”. I think Apple needs some competition in this space, but that is easier said than done. A good tool for education is about the hardware and the software, something Apple controls entirely with its iPad and iOS, as well as creating a thriving app developer community.

If Google, as the most likely form of competition is to grab some of that market share, they will need to create a viable education hardware and software eco system to do that.

“We do see Chromebooks in some places,” Tim Cook admitted. “But the vast majority of people are buying PCs, Macs, or an iPad. Our share of tablets in education is 94 percent … which is sort of unheard of. I’ve never seen that kind of market share before.”

As some schools in the USA are finding out the hard way, you can not simply put an iPad in the hands of every student and hope they get a better education.

Read the full article here