From PC Mag: Apple is holding a launch event on Tuesday, March 27 in an unusual place: Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago. (Those are Lane Tech kids pictured above, in a photo from Apple.) Why? Back in December, Apple announced that it was working with the city of Chicago to bring Swift coding classes to 500,000 local students, and the company most probably wants to show off products for schools.
Chromebooks have been killing Macs and iPads in school installations over the past two years, according to data from Futuresource. We think Apple will fight back with a low-cost iPad aimed at the education market, replacing the current smash-hit $329 base model.
Apple also hasn't updated the iPad mini since 2015, leaving it ripe for a change. A new iPad mini would bump the processor from an A8 to at least an A9, and could potentially come in under $300, making it a compelling purchase for students and schools with lower incomes.
Software and accessories are going to be a big part of this event, too. 9to5Mac reported on a framework called "ClassKit" in iOS 11.3, which lets teachers build quizzes to be deployed to iPads in class. We'll hear about options to remotely and securely manage iPads, and we may see new keyboard cases to turn the iPads into more of a Chromebook replacement.
View: Article @ Source Site
