Apple, ever tinkering with the app store, has just released a very interesting option for developers: bulk educational discounts. As a developer you can now offer a lower price to a school when they buy your app in quantity.
With more sales for yourself, more copies for the school, and happy students using your application, this is a win-win-win situation. To opt in developers need to agree to the new sales agreement paperwork and check a single box to get their apps into the discount game.
All of this fuss does beg the question, are schools really picking up iOS devices for their students to use? If when I was in High School (in ages past) I had been handed an iPad, I would never have skipped a class again. Still, do we have any real life examples of schools picking up enough gadgets to make this discount even worthwhile?
We do. Stanford Medical school, for example, has rolled out a program to give iPads to all incoming medical students. The Los Angeles Times is very bullish on the concept of iPads in school, giving the idea and A+, and the list goes on. In fact, for some months there was an entire fan website devoted to iOS in classrooms.
In short, iOS is on the rise as an educational tool, and Apple is preparing for a long future with discounts to keep cash-strapped (but still flush enough to buy iPads) school districts pushing the download button all semester long.
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