Tomorrow, Apple is expected to announce an iPad mini, and it's expected to be heavily marketed for its educational value, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report.
Educators have already glommed on to iOS devices in the classroom, as I learned when I attended the biennial Connected Summit at Abilene Christian University last year. The iPad, with its 9.7" screen and sub-$500 price, quickly became a popular device for one-to-one technology initiatives in K-12 classrooms. And Apple encouraged that adoption late last year when it introduced a revamped iTunes U app, iBooks Author, and affordable, iPad-optimized digital textbooks.
When Apple released the third-generation iPad in March of this year, it retained the 16GB iPad 2 at a lower, $399 entry-level price. That price drop made the already attractive tablet a better deal for cash-strapped schools, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. For instance, San Diego's school district bought the tablets once the price dropped to under $400, and the McAllen Independent School District in southern Texas recently inked a $3.5 million per year deal to outfit its students with about 25,000 iPads.
The iPad mini is widely rumored to start at around $299, perhaps even as low as $249. That price could be a tipping point for many schools to consider adopting tablets like the iPad mini in greater numbers.
"Once these tablets get in to the $200 to $300 range we are going to see a real aggressive uptake in the K-12 market," Vineet Madan, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Companies education unit, told Bloomberg Businessweek.
Apple plans to emphasize the new iPad mini's educational value tomorrow, according to Bloomberg Businessweek's sources. In addition to its low cost, smaller size, and compatibility with educational and creative apps, Apple may also unveil an updated, 3.0 version of its iBooks e-reader app. The existence of the update has already been leaked via iTunes Store descriptions for updated e-book titles which require the new version. The app will have improved support for ePub 3 standards, according to The Digital Reader.
As another part of tomorrow's announcements, Apple is expected to begin offering a revised iPad 3, which is believed to include Apple's new Lightning connector and possibly updated LTE hardware—the same Qualcomm MDM9615 chip used in the iPhone 5—that is compatible with more 4G networks around the world. With the iPad mini effectively taking its place as the budget tablet geared towards education, Apple could also discontinue the $399 iPad 2.
Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng will be covering Apple's announcements live as they happen beginning at 10am PDT tomorrow (see it in your timezone).
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