Microsoft and Apple – An unlikely Alliance in Education

The role of technology in education cannot be denied; it has reached the smallest classrooms in all the corners of the world and has made distance education a possibility. Its influence is irrefutable and is constantly changing the nature of education. The effect is so widespread that it is worth examining how different big tech players are affecting education.

Google has the advantage of offering cheap education; it offers full, end-end services – software and hardware – at low costs. Their products include Chromebooks and Google Classroom among others.

As Microsoft and Apple are mimicking Google, Google has been mimicking its two competitors.

Google Classroom has gained popularity as it is user-friendly, with Chromebooks becoming the top seller. Astonishingly, Google is now adding more capabilities to Chrome OS and increasing the price point of some Chromebooks. The popularity has increased as any person can use a computer with a log-in. All the information is stored on the cloud which means it can be managed by a bunch of students without storing any data individually. The pricier Chromebooks are positioned for lecturer use.

Google is still the top choice despite the data privacy concerns raised when it came under scrutiny for collecting personal data from its users. Therefore Google is way too ahead in the education sphere.

In an unlikely partnership, Microsoft and Apple have teamed up to tackle Google and gain market share in the education sphere. Microsoft’s star product is Microsoft Office, and a user who has that won’t look to Google for Chromebooks. On the other hand, Apple’s main priority is to sell its actual product, the hardware. Users who have Mac and use Office for Mac will not be interested in G-Suite. Between Microsoft’s focus on software, and Apple’s focus on hardware, they have found a good partnership, balancing and completing each other; and working together against Google, Amazon and other competitors on the market.

This partnership of Apple’s hardware with Microsoft’s end-to-end software can be tricky for Apple in the future. If in the future, Microsoft decides to push hardware sales, they can drastically drop Apple’s market share. Equipped with its own software that will be easier to navigate, Microsoft can release hardware models at low prices and put Apple in serious trouble. Going forward, depending solely on hardware sales might not be the best strategy for Apple.