Will This New Device Give Apple an Edge in Education?

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has reportedly launched a new, lower-priced iMac that is only available to educators. AllThingsD reports that with a price tag of $1,099, the new mac is $150 cheaper than an entry-level consumer iMac purchased with a student discount.

The device, which supposedly boasts just half of the RAM and storage capacity of the consumer model, is not the first piece of hardware designed specifically for the education industry. On Wednesday, Amplify Education, a business dedicated to building digital products and services for K-12 education, announced an open, tablet-based learning platform that runs on a device that starts at just $299, with 4G models available.

Tablets in particular are a huge draw for educators. Most — especially at the K-12 level — don’t need a huge amount of computing power. Relatively low price points, durability, and portability top their list of concerns. With that said, educators around the world are opening up the coffers to bring their schools into the 21st century. The long age of the textbook is coming to an end, and the torrents of money once reserved for publishers can be put to new uses — like buying tech…

It was pointed out that the latest generation of the iPad was geared at three markets: education, enterprise, and consumers — and arguably in that order. After selling 17 million iPads in the second quarter, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said, “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.”