Apple’s new iPad aimed at recapturing education market

CHICAGO — Apple unveiled a new iPad aimed at classrooms and other education tools on Tuesday, in a bid to catch up to Google for students’ attention — and win more school districts’ dollars.

Apple said the new 9.7inch iPad includes a faster processor and supports Apple Pencil, a stylus that previously paired with just its pricier iPads. The device costs $299 for schools and $329 for consumers, the same price as its previous version, and the Apple Pencil was priced at $89 for schools. The company also increased the amount of cloud storage for students to 200 gigabytes, from 5 gigabytes.

In addition, Apple announced new software for the classroom. That includes Schoolwork, an app for teachers to create and track assignments, and updates to its productivity apps for education. The company also showed off a curriculum called Everyone Can Create that helps teach students skills in music, video, photography and art.

“Our place at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts makes it possible for us to create powerful products and tools that amplify learning and creativity,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, at an event in the auditorium of Lane Technical College Prep High School on Chicago’s North Side.

Apple, Google and Microsoft are each aiming to accustom schoolchildren to their operating systems to win the next generation as lifelong customers.

“These companies know that it’s very important to build mind share at a very early age,” said Linn Huang, a research director at the International Data Corp., a market research firm known as IDC.

Apple has some catching up to do. Mac laptops and iPads were once the dominant devices in U.S. classrooms, but Google has shot past Apple with inexpensive laptops called Chromebooks. Google has also led the way in software