Smart Stuffs You Need-to-Know Inside Tech Giant’s Education App Stores
Educational apps made big headlines in 2013 and 2014.
InBloom, an education app store which aim is to make learning more personalized for students across the US, was launched in 2013 with support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
SocialEDU, a collaboration project between Facebook and EdX, was launched in 2014. The project’s initiative is to create educational app to provide localized education in Rwanda.
An infographic released by backupify showed that as of August 2013, over 25 million students are using Google Apps for Education. Based on Statista, education apps were the second-most downloaded category in the Apple app store in September 2014.
As these headlines highly caught my attention, I decided to take a quick look inside the three tech giants’ app stores. What I discovered were not only interesting stuffs. These billion dollar companies are really reaching out to the world to bring better education to mankind.
Here’s my education app report.
Microsoft in Education
There are thirteen categories under Microsoft’s Education Apps for Windows and Windows Phone. Some of these categories are math, language learning, early learning, and learning and classroom management. As you click on each featured product, you will be directed to the page showing the app’s price, description, features and technical information.
Microsoft has a unique way in selling its education apps – via authorized education resellers. There is a dedicated “How to Buy” page that displays information about pricing and licensing for schools and store deals for students.
The smart stuff inside Microsoft app store is their EDU portal which assists students, parents, faculty and staffs in getting great deals and special discounts.
Google for Education
It is actually at Google Play where you can shop for top paid and free educational apps.
But Google for Education is a dedicated page that highlights the company’s mission of bringing free and affordable education apps to every classroom around the globe. Google Apps for Education is a free set of communication and collaboration tools that includes Google’s very own Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Hangouts and other apps.
The Classroom app is the smart stuff that is proving Google’s commitment to its mission of bringing education to everyone. By signing-up an account for Google Apps for Education, teachers and students can then use for free the Classroom app right on their Android and iOS devices.
Apple and Education
There is an abundance of education apps at the Mac App Store.
Part of Apple’s “iPad in education” and “Mac in education” programs are Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, powerful apps for students and teachers. Many of Apple’s apps for education are free and stunning.
There are two smart stuffs that I discovered inside Apple’s app store.
First is that the company supports the ConnectED initiative of President Obama by committing their products, knowledge and passion for learning. Second is the Special Education wherein they’re creating innovative apps and tools for people with disabilities.
Creating apps for education is not only a big business. It is also solving the world’s problem. From that realization, I believe that this is only the beginning for the tech giants in bringing free and affordable education to the world.
We can definitely see more catchy headlines about education apps soon. Taking an inside look on education app stores, nevertheless, is one of the smartest stuffs I’ve ever did.
