According to the Wisconsin State Journal Madison Wisconsin will be handing out over 1,400 iPads to students early next fall, as the result of a nearly $80 million settlement they received from Microsoft for a consumer lawsuit in 2009.
The Madison school district plans to purchase more than 600 iPads for use in the majority of schools this spring, and another 800 iPads are expected to be in classrooms by next fall. Apple’s educational discounts should allow the school district to purchase each iPad for around $479.
Bill Smojver, the district’s director of technical services stated, “This is the most significant transition point for having digital learning at the optimal level.”
According to Minnesota based technology consultant Naomi Harm, there are around 50 school districts currently using iPads in their classrooms.
Considering this months release of iBooks 2 with digital support for textbooks and which saw an incredible 350,000 digital textbooks downloaded in the first 72 hours of its release and the simultaneous release of iBooks Author that allows aspiring authors to create their own iBooks it is safe to say that Apple iPads are on their way to being in classrooms across America in the very near future.
How long do you think it will be until Apple has iPads in every school across the country?
