Google’s Chromebooks make up half of US classroom devices — from cnbc.com by Harriet Taylor

Excerpt:

Google, Microsoft and Apple have been competing for years in the very lucrative education technology market. For the first time, Google has taken a huge lead over its rivals.

Chromebooks now make up more than half of all devices in U.S. classrooms, up from less than 1 percent in 2012, according to a new report from Futuresource Consulting. To analysts, this comes as a big surprise.

“While it was clear that Chromebooks had made progress in education, this news is, frankly, shocking,” said Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder. “Chromebooks made incredibly quick inroads in just a couple of years, leaping over Microsoft and Apple with seeming ease.

 

From DSC:
I love Apple’s products and many of their philosophies.  Their attention to detail and design is second to none — especially on things that Tim Cook and his leadership team really care about.  I also appreciate Apple’s push into the enterprise — as evidenced by their partnership and collaborations with IBM. 

In terms of Microsoft, Microsoft has designed and developed some excellent software through the years. Also, their current leadership seems to be far more innovative/effective than their former leadership (IMHO). This can be seen in endeavors like Microsoft’s push into augmented reality/mixed reality with their HoloLens product.

But from someone working in the education sector, it has felt like Apple and Microsoft have been blown out of the water by Google these last several years.  So to see that Chromebooks now make up more than half of all devices in U.S. classrooms, it doesn’t surprise me at all.  Their ease of setup and administration in addition to their low cost have made Chromebooks ideal for many K-12 schools. 

If Apple and Microsoft want to be key players in the education space in the future, then they really need to majorly up their game — obtaining board level supported endeavors and investments.  Otherwise, Google seems to be on a trajectory to dominate this space (at least until the next Google comes along).