{"id":127747,"date":"2018-04-04T08:54:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T13:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=127747"},"modified":"2018-04-05T22:37:49","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T03:37:49","slug":"classroom-3-reasons-often-overlooked-market-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2018\/04\/classroom-3-reasons-often-overlooked-market-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"The classroom: 3 reasons why it is the often-overlooked market for technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Global technology giants have been releasing new devices geared towards students. Is the classroom the new battleground for customers?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you have been following some of recent product launches by leading global tech firms, such as Apple, Microsoft, Google and Acer, they all released computing hardware geared towards students and the classroom:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Apple \u2013 a new 9.7-inch iPad that is compatible with the Apple Pencil<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft \u2013 a Surface Laptop, and a new budget-friendly Windows PCs<\/li>\n<li>Google\u00a0and Acer \u2013 the first ever Chrome OS-powered tablet (Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/5218440\/apple-ipad-microsoft-google-chromebooks-schools-education\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Time<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Globally, but also in the Caribbean, governments and educators have been making a concerted effort to bring computers into the classroom, and modify the curriculum to take advantage of digital tools and the Internet in order to improve the learning experience. To that end, several initiatives have been implemented over the years, starting with the establishment of computer labs in schools, to eventually having computers in classrooms, and to one-laptop, or one-tablet-per student programmes.<\/p>\n<p>However, with computing devices firmly entrenched, and acknowledged as essential learning tools for today\u2019s world, why does it appear that device manufacturers are still seemingly jockeying for position in that space?<\/p>\n<h3>Reason #1:\u00a0 The education sector is a large and growing market<\/h3>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/global-report-predicts-edtech-spend-to-reach-252bn-by-2020-580765301.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forecast published in 2016 by EdTechXGlobal<\/a>, one of the top education technology-focused conference\u00a0globally, it was noted that<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u2026Education technology is becoming a global phenomenon, and as distribution and platforms scale internationally, the market is projected to grow at 17.0% per annum, to\u00a0$252bn\u00a0by 2020.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Further, as the importance of education is more aggressively promoted, for example, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, and various local and national initiatives worldwide, school enrolment and consequently, the demand for technology tools will also increase. Additionally, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/global-report-predicts-edtech-spend-to-reach-252bn-by-2020-580765301.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 Global EdTech Industry Report<\/a>, it was forecast that by 2035, there would be 2.7 billion students worldwide,\u00a0which will require considerable resources and a sustained effort to again, cater to that demand.<\/p>\n<h3>Reason #2:\u00a0 There is a continual need for devices<\/h3>\n<p>Anyone who owns computing devices, such as a laptop, smartphone, desktop or tablet computer, knows that they only last a finite amount of time, before they need to be replaced. Generally, that period tends to be about three to five years, with shorter time frames likely for the more mobile\/portable devices \u2013 which tend to be subject to more wear and tear. However, many of us do not wait until our devices have died to replace them, but do so when we there has been noticeable decline in performance.<\/p>\n<p>It therefore means that on a fairly regular basis, we need to purchase new computing devices. The same occurs in schools: older equipment is phased out in favour of newer models, thus establishing a constant market and (fairly) predictable demand for computing devices.<\/p>\n<h3>Reason #3:\u00a0 The potential to nurture lifelong customers<\/h3>\n<p>Finally, as much as we might grumble about how processing power-hungry the Microsoft Office suite of products are, very few of us have ever considered using other office productivity software applications, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/lae\/iwork\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iWork<\/a>, by Apple, <a href=\"https:\/\/gsuite.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">G Suite<\/a>, by Google, or the Free and Open Source Software product, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.libreoffice.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LibreOffice<\/a>, to name a few. Many of us were first exposed to word processing and spreadsheets through Microsoft Office, when we were at school or university. However, whilst the learning curve for other applications might not be steep, we tend to want to avoid the inevitable hassle and frustration, and stick with what we know.<\/p>\n<p>The same attitude and behavior also applies to our hardware preferences. Hence, in tapping into the education market, and schools in particular, device manufacturers have the opportunity to secure students as lifelong and loyal customers, who are not just experienced in using their products, but also cannot be bother to try anything else.<\/p>\n<h3>Final thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>In summary, the classroom is still an untapped market for tech products and services, including software applications. In addition to products directly related to academic study, there is considerable scope for innovation as it relates to emphasising, important life skills, along with societal values and mores. Further, as increasingly, students will have their own devices, especially a mobile\/cellular phone or smartphone, customisation to suit the needs and ability of each student will become even more crucial into the future.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Image credit:\u00a0 Pixabay (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pexels<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global technology giants have been releasing new devices geared towards students. Is the classroom the new battleground for customers? &nbsp; If you have been following some of recent product launches [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[36,49,204,15],"class_list":["post-127747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ict-tech","tag-devices","tag-education","tag-innovation-2","tag-trends","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/abc-books-chalk-chalkboard-Pixabay-Pexels.jpeg?fit=1024%2C685&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-xer","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127750,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127747\/revisions\/127750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}