The increasingly popular Chromebook in American schools

Various data relating to the sale of tablets intended for American educational establishments show that the Chromebook laptop is on the way to overtaking the iPad tablet in the United States.

While the Apple iPad is still the most used tablet in schools, other devices are gaining ground. This is particularly the case of Chromebook from Google, which has seen its popularity increase significantly over the past year.

According to data analyzed and published by theInternational Data Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in digital technologies, in the United States, the number of Chromebooks sold to schools in the third quarter exceeded that of the iPad. Using the figures from the consulting firm, the British daily The Guardian announces that 715,000 Chromebooks were sold to American schools in the third financial quarter, against 702,000 iPad tablets.

In the space of just one year, Google's device saw its share of the US school market increase by 15 %. How to explain the sudden craze for the Chromebook in the school environment? It seems to have two main reasons.

One of the first reasons would be that it is a more affordable device than the iPad. For the same price, it's often possible to get two Chromebooks rather than a single iPad. Since schools have a limited budget and must buy in large quantities, they may be tempted to favor the first device.

Another reason that would explain the growing use of the Chromebook in schools is due to the fact that it has a keyboard, unlike the iPad. A keyboard is a valuable accessory for older students, who often have to write more detailed texts.

To this end, an article published in the Los Angeles Times indicated that many schools will now have the opportunity to choose whether to procure either Chromebooks or iPads, depending on interests, preferences, educational scenarios and available budgets.

Although the Chromebook is growing in popularity, the iPad is still the most widely used device in American schools. The thousands of educational applications developed probably have something to do with it. But that may be about to change.