Chrome OS has been a pretty ideal spot for Google to stake its various plays for the education market. The cheap, bare-bones Chromebook laptops have been light on complexity and heavy on connectivity. The company hasn’t had much in the way of options when it comes to touch screen devices, however.
Today, Google announced its first education tablet designed with Chrome OS. The Acer Chromebook Tab 10 will be the first such Chrome OS tablet for schools to land in kids’ hands. The device itself is a pretty standard 9.7 inch 2048×1536 tablet that will retail for $329, the same price as Apple’s entry-level iPad.
Being a Chrome OS device, these will integrate easily into the IT systems of schools with a Chrome education license and will give students a device they can easily pass around and jot notes on with stylus and touch controls. This could potentially fill a hole where Apple’s iPad was much better positioned.
The announcement is especially notable given Apple’s education event set for tomorrow. Some are expecting the event to highlight the iPad’s strength as a student computing platform while the company may announce new products and changes to its education-focused feature set.
The tablets also will enable students to jump into educational AR experiences given their handheld form factor and Google’s upcoming rollout of the Expeditions AR platform on the devices, which the company promises will allow students to visit the Great Barrier Reef, the Colosseum and International Space Station.
The Acer Chromebook Tab 10 will go on sale to educators this spring.
