New iPad and iPad Mini See a Niche in Education

Apple (News - Alert) announced two new products this week – the fourth-generation iPad and the new iPad Mini – and it’s surely leaving some with questions.

First: With the iPad Mini barely squeezing in between sizes of the iPhone (News - Alert)/iPod Touch and the iPad, where’s the target market? And second: Not to be shrouded by the Mini, how much of a groundbreaker is the new iPad supposed to be, having released the iPad 3 less than a year ago?

But Apple has done something really cool here. Bridging an admittedly short gap between two products with similar appeals, and perfecting the full-sized tablet in both graphics and computing power, the firm has created the best of both portability and usefulness for a market that has come to see their value in a number of ways – education.

“While interest in the new iPad was high, sales of the reduced price iPad 2 in the K-12 markets were particularly strong, and even though we achieved all-time record Mac sales to U.S. education institutions during the quarter, we sold more than twice as many iPads as Macs to U.S. education institutions,” said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, who sees “tremendous momentum” in both devices for the purposes of education in courses that require convenient but comprehensive displays of learning material perpetually during class time.

Image via Shutterstock

And since Apple has an enormous lead over most competitors, according to ZDNet, it’s no question teachers under strict budgets of money and efficiency will prefer the machine they’re most trusting of.

“Mac sales held steady at around 520,000 units but overall PC sales declined by 265,000 units from 1.90 million to 1.64 million units,” said Needham & Company analyst Charlie Wolf. “We believe the inescapable conclusion is that the iPad is beginning to cannibalize a material portion of PC sales in this market.”

The fourth-generation iPad consists of improved graphics and computing performance, as well as a high-definition front camera and familiar 10-hour battery. The new iPad Mini can be held with one hand and will retail for a super attractive $329.

Apple didn’t see immediate success in the debut of its iPad. And though the device has caught on, the company is obviously not without the trials preceding that eventual niche which gives the whole thing a purpose.