New kid on the block

Apple has a competitor in the tablet education content arena. But will it be a strong enough offering to take away business from the market leader?

At long last, the there is a new kid on the block. I recently looked at Samsung’s Smart School offering at the African Education Week exhibition. Essentially it’s rather like Apple TV in the way it links a class set of tablets ( Samsung Galaxy) with an eBoard screen and the class teacher who is able to push content and assessment, as well as control activity on each pupil’s tab and show work on the eBoard screen.

Samsung are promising content too. They've hooked up with education publishers to provide this. But there’s a strong emphasis on consumption here. I'm uncomfortable with the apparent lack of creation apps for education.

I guess what I'm asking though is will it be enough to make a dent in Apple’s education business? After all, the iLife content creation suite of tools is outstanding and highly rated by educationalists who use it. Added to this is the content available through iTunesU and the education support service, and you have a pretty unbeatable overall package.

Samsung have made a start in competing with Apple for the lucrative education business. But with the vast majority of schools having iPads rather than Android devices as their ultimate wished-for tablet, they still have a steep hill to climb…

And the folks at the conference who promised to get back to me with some more information still haven't done so yet, Samsung Southern Africa.  Apple would have done so by now....