Though Microsoft has been making a strong push to disrupt Apple's foothold in the education market by offering K–12 schools its Surface tablets at the low price of $199, its pricing incentives didn't have an effect on the Los Angeles Unified School District, reports AllThingsD.
On Tuesday night, the school board voted to spend $30 million on Apple iPads, which will see the company equipping every student in 47 of the district's schools with a tablet.
The deal, which was approved in a 6–0 vote by the district's school board, will see Apple supplying about 35,000 iPads to 47 LAUSD schools at a cost of about $678 per device. That's higher than retail, but I'm told the devices are to be preloaded with an assortment of educational software prior to distribution — an additional expense. They also come with a three-year warranty.
According to the LA Times, the district did test runs with multiple devices and the iPad "received the highest scoring by the students and the teachers." Winning a contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District is a major boon for Apple, as the district is the second largest school system in the United States and could influence other districts to follow in its footsteps.
Apple has long had a heavy focus on the educational market, which ramped up with the introduction of the iPad in 2010. Apple offers discounts across its product lineup for students and earlier this year, it was reported that the company had sold more than 8 million iPads to educational institutions around the world.
In February, Apple also met with the Turkish President to further discuss another huge educational deal that would see the country purchasing more than $4.5 billion worth of Apple products.
Update: Apple has issued a press release about the deal with the LA Unified School District.
"Education is in Apple's DNA and we're thrilled to work with Los Angeles Unified public schools on this major initiative as they plan to roll out iPads to every student across 47 campuses this fall," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Schools around the world have embraced the engaging and interactive quality of iPad with nearly 10 million iPads already in schools today."
