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Apple iPads are the tablets of choice for 70 percent of tablet-owning teenagers, according to an April 4 report from Piper Jaffray. Teen preference, combined with teen iPhone ownership, the results of school surveys and the growing trend of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policieseven within schoolsall result in a forecast that finds the education market is going to do excellent things for Apples bottom line.
The popularity of the iPad among teens, said the report will lead to the iPad owning the educational tablet market.
Piper Jaffray found 78 percent of school IT managers to be testing iPads, along with Googles Chromebooks, while another 6 percent said they were testing Android tablets. Gene Munster and Douglas J. Clinton, the authors of the report, concluded that most of these managers believe the iPad would ultimately be the platform of choice for the market because the growing app marketplace makes iPad a safer long-term investment.
Students are also already comfortable with the platform. Piper Jaffrays survey found:
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iPhone ownership among teens is now 34 percent, up from 23 percent in the fall and 17 percent last spring.
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Teen interest in purchasing an iPhone is now at 40 percent, an all-time high, compared with previous results.
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By fall 2012, the firm expects teen iPhone ownership could be at 40 to 45 percent.
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iPad ownership is likely to approach 30 percent by the fall, compared with 24 percent currently.
In addition to surveying 5,600 teens, the analysts surveyed 18 public school IT managers, all of whom said that within five to 10 years they expect their school to have a one-on-one device-to-student ratio.
The majority of IT managers believed that bring-your-own-device policies would be the major driver in achieving a one-to-one ratio, according to the report. Given the iPads current majority market share among teens¦ we expect iPad would be the device most likely desired by students in choosing their own devices.
Apple is rumored to have a smaller-model iPad in the works; IHS iSuppli wrote in March that component suppliers are reporting an iPad with a 7.85-inch XGA display will arrive in time for winter holiday sales. Such a device, wrote the Piper Jaffray analysts, could further help the education market.
We believe that ultimately a smaller screen, lower-priced iPad could help drive adoption for education, wrote Munster and Clinton.
And of course, theres also Apples big push to own the textbook market. At a Jan. 19 event in New York City, Apple detailed how it was focused on reinventing textbooks and how it planned to, with Apple iBooks 2, bring a new textbook experience to the iPad.
With each new wave of young workers entering the workforce, the Piper Jaffray forecast should continue to pay dividends for Apple. Teenagers comfortable with Apples iOS are likely to be young adults toting iPhones to work.
Speaking to CIO Insight, Oliver Bussmann, CIO of SAP, described the BYOD trend as unstoppable, and so something that must be embraced, and enthusiastically.
If you look at the generation that is now coming from college, Bussman explained, they already have a Facebook account, social media accounts, etc. They want to bring their own devices. So, how can you be attractive, as a company, and attract those talents, if you don’t provide a working environment that they were used to during their college time? I think it’s something you have to do.