Giving Compass' Take:

• Apple's new iPad is expensive and fragile, making it a poor choice for schools that are looking to provide tech resources for students, who are likely to break and lose the components. 

• What is the best technology available for schools? How do brand preferences and reputations factor into decisions about technology purchases in education? 

• Take a look at what 2018 has in store for EdTech. 

Apple famously pioneered the market for selling computers to schools — a market Steve Jobs focused on early. But Apple lost its early lead in the education market, first to Windows-powered machines and more recently to those running Google's Chrome OS. Though its iPad initially seemed like a way to strike back and regain lost ground, it hasn't exactly turned out that way.

Apple's iOS, the operating system underlying the iPad, is more complex than Chrome OS, basically requiring an IT administrator to configure and maintain it continuously. And because it lacks a keyboard, the iPad, by itself, is not particularly well-suited for many school activities, like writing reports.

But the iPad's bigger problems have to do with its price and durability. Unlike notebooks, iPads, with their all-glass faces, are inherently fragile devices.

One of the key selling points of the new iPad is that it works with the Apple Pencil, the Apple-designed stylus. Here again, Apple seems to have no understanding of kids.

Not only does the iPad not come with a case, but it also lacks a way to easily keep track of its stylus. There's no slot to slide the Pencil into, and no way to attach it magnetically.

Compared with what schools can expect to pay for a Chromebook, the $300 Apple is charging for the new iPad is already high. But that price understates its cost — schools that want to equip their iPads with Pencils will have to pay an additional $90 for each stylus.

Meanwhile, schools that want protective cases for their new tablets will need to spend even more. For example, Logitech's rugged new iPad case costs $100.

Read the full article on the new iPad in the education market by Troy Wolverton at Business Insider