Google looks to enter into UK schools in a big way with its service, ‘Google Play for Education’, despite competition from rivals like Microsoft and Apple.
The new service allows schools to choose affordable tablets including the Nexus 7 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Education, in addition to set-up and management tools for access to Google Play for Education.
Android with Google Play for Education offers access to hardware and apps designed for the classroom which are customised to the UK curriculum.
Microsoft still holds a dominant position in the field of education with Word and Excel, with Apple gaining popularity by offering its product at a low cost for educational institutions, reported the Telegraph.
According to the newspaper, Google is an insurgent operator in UK education, but it comes with less baggage like that of Microsoft, and has no premium pricing attached to it like Apple.
The Telegraph cited EMEA head of education Liz Sproat as saying that Google Apps for Education is a technology that will actually work for schools.
Sproat added: "Technology was hard to deploy in schools and we’re making the solutions we supply very easy to manage.
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"With a management console, setting policies and pushing out content at the touch of a button means it’s also very cost effective.
"It’s really important that these solutions are equitable and very affordable. And we have to be very flexible. Schools have often made significant investments already, for instance."
However, Sproat also puts emphasises on the development of teachers and the role of technology in making them equipped with the change.
Another advantage that Google has above the others is its search, which is dominant in most markets.
