Back in January 2010, Steve Jobs presented the firs iPad thus being the firs to enter a new industry of consumer electronic devices which later on turned to be ridiculously profitable for Apple.

Here we are today, 8 years later, where Apple has made dozens of enemies on the tablet industry and is no longer ahead of things – actually scratch that last part; it may has taken over the lead again with this new iPad 2018.

Although we keep calling it new, the latest addition to the Apple’s tablet family does not sport exactly features or specs that we haven’t seen before. In terms of size, weight and underlying screen, it’s exactly the same with its predecessor.

The two major differences can be located on the processor – the new iPad has the beloved A10 Fusion chip under the hood – and the Apple Pencil connectivity. That’s primarily the reason people keep comparing this one with the iPad Pro.

But other than that, the latest addition to the iPad family, supports a series of innovations that can be used by students and teachers alike, with the most important of them being the introduction of Schoolwork. That’s an app that allows students to properly take advantage of the device’s educational capabilities and gives teachers a full preview of their class’ grades wherever they are.

At the same time, the Apple Pencil can be used for the fresh series of classes called ‘Everyone Can Create’, which can be found on the Classroom app. Needless to mention, all those exciting additions go hand in hand with upcoming apps such as iLife and iWork.

Now as for the price, all the features that were mentioned above, can be acquired for $329. And to make matters more appealing, the Cupertino giant also promised to give 200GB of free iCloud storage to all registered students and teachers.

Here lies the brilliance of Apple’s strategy after all. Let me explain. According to Futuresource Consulting’s 2017 3rd quarter report, Apple’s products account for 17% of all student-oriented electronic device purchases in USA. 60% of the devices that are sold for those purposes, are running with Google’s Android OS, while 22% opt for Microsoft’s operating system. The education industry is a quite promising one, on the grounds that it is considered a priority, so once an improvement has been introduced it will become a necessity.

Think about it, and it gets a tad clearer, that Apple is trying to share that pie with Google, who seems to be in charge so far.

Hey, don’t take it from me. Take it from Greg Joswiak himself, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing who said: “iPad is our vision for the future of computing and hundreds of millions of people around the world use it every day at work, in school and for play.”

All in all, it’s a good idea to invest in education whether it’s done for profit, or with pure intentions in mind. At least you can now get a decent iPad and enrich your Apple experience at a price that has never been considered before by Apple.