No Way to Win Back a Market

Those who know me well likely know that computers in education are a particular passion of mine. Much of my nearly twenty years at Apple was spent successfully selling computers to schools and universities. In 1986, I sold one Apple IIe for each fifth-grade classroom in Nova Scotia -over 1,200 computers on one purchase order.

However, computers do not teach you how to think. They are tools that can help you do things that might be hard to do manually. If you know how to do the task manually, you will really appreciate the computer. It is highly unlikely that one kind of computer will inspire you more than another.

Yet in a recent announcement of the 16" MacBook Pro, Phil Schiller of Apple embarrassed himself and Apple. Apparently, he said the following after talking about how iPads inspire students.

"Yet Chromebooks don’t do that. Chromebooks have gotten to the classroom because, frankly, they’re cheap testing tools for required testing. If all you want to do is test kids, well, maybe a cheap notebook will do that. But they’re not going to succeed."

So children taught on a Chromebook are not going to succeed? The kindest thing I can call that statement is elitist poppycock. Maybe Chromebooks are in schools because using a computer with a keyboard is easier when writing than using a tablet. Chromebooks are also easier to manage in large installations than Apple products. Google understands that data should live in the cloud. Apple has never quite figured that out in a way that is useful to its users.

I have been using personal computers for over thirty-seven years and I have seen Schiller do some dumb things but this is one of the dumbest.

As a person who uses two Macintoshes, one Windows 10 machine, a Linux computer, and a Chromebook on a daily basis, I know computers better than most people. I also was given an iPad a few months ago. If anything someone who learns most of his computing skills on an iPad is going to end up frustrated because I can guarantee that there are user interface elements of the iPad that do not translate well even to a Macintosh much less to a Linux computer.

The most successful student will be able to sit down at any computer and accomplish their tasks. Good luck out in the world telling your boss you need an iPad to get the job done - the Census Bureau might be an exception.

Maybe Schiller should have spent his time explaining the failed $1.3-billion iPads-for-all project in L.A. schools. The schools didn't buy the iPads because of better educational results but because of unusually close personal ties between the people making the iPad decision and Apple executives. Oh, and they didn't evaluate any other products. The superintendent ended up resigning.

Don't buy into Schiller's BS. Children and adults thrive on inexpensive (and not so inexpensive) Chromebooks. I love mine. You can read about my decision to buy a Pixelbook a year ago instead of a MacBook. In my year of using the Pixelbook I haven't run into any problems. I even figured how to connect it to my NAS. I successfully tethered it to my Pixel 2XL when our Internet was down for a couple of days. I now also have hands-on experience with an iPad. I remain convinced that the iPad is a very good media consumption device.

I still build my websites on a Mac and I have no plans to switch to an iPad. 

I bought my granddaughter a Chromebook. She also loves it. Her school district, one of the top ones in NC,  has standardized on them. It is little surprise that 60% of computers purchased by educational institutions last year were Chromebooks. Maybe what I once heard Schiller say has something to do with that.

 "Customers don't tell us what they need, we tell them what to buy."

Maybe Apple should have heeded my advice about Chromebooks in education several years ago.

Schiller and the other marketing geniuses at Apple lost the education market. You do not get it back by dissing the competition. You get it back by listening to customers and responding to their needs and delivering better products that meet those needs.

In spite of Apple's lack of focus on business tools, our company still uses Macs to do most of our work. It is not easy.  Now just as I am feeling the pressure to replace my almost eight-year-old MacMini, I end being irritated at Schiller (and Apple for not stopping him) for continuing his record of doing and saying things that are not good for Apple. I still remember his relentless efforts to derail our success in the federal market when I was the director of federal sales at Apple. Oh for the days when Apple cared more about getting computers right than making more money than the rest of the world. I vaguely can call up the memory of Apple wanting to make computers affordable.

By the way, next Monday, November 18, drop by MacObserver's Background Mode by John Martellaro and hear the interview I just did with him.

Comments

[Bob Jennings]

The arrogance of Phil Schiller and Apple, frankly, is not surprising to me either. As you did, I saw it first hand for decades, and the company that I once loved no longer exists. Apple, in my opinion, does not and has not cared truly about education for well over a decade. The long list of arrogant education executives who only cared about selling more products to schools, regardless of the outcome, was astonishing and yet they have come and gone for years. My tenure ended in 2015 after nearly 30 years and I have not missed the company for a single moment.

In my opinion, Mr. Schiller should be fired for his comments, but the arrogance is pretty deep in the giant spaceship. I taught in a school district that provided chrome books to every student last year and frankly if the students had been issued iPads, it would have been an absolute nightmare. iPads are a consumption tool only regardless of what Apple education marketing, or lack thereof, tries to tell people, in my opinion!

I still use the products personally, but do not recommend broad adoption for K12 schools as there are much more affordable alternatives that provide the tools needed for the majority of student needs.

Thanks for your candor and you are 100% correct in your assessment!