Mobile Computing

Slowdown Expected in K-12 Mobile Device Growth for 2015

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/06/15

The market for mobile computing devices in K-12 worldwide has grown by 18 percent, according to new analysis by Futuresource Consulting. That equates to 5.7 million devices being shipped in the fourth quarter of 2014.

But that growth pales in comparison to numbers in the United States, where the market grew by 40.5 percent in 2014, driven, according to the research firm, by Common Core and the broad adoption of online assessments.

Futuresource monitors national-level projects in as many as 46 countries globally. In its recent market track report for personal computing in K-12 the firm highlighted how governments are increasingly realizing that they can influence the skill sets of their future workforce through major technology investment programs in schools.

Chromebooks, which run Google Chrome as their operating system, garnered 39 percent of market share in the United States last year with three million units sold. That was good enough to overtake Apple's iPad as the best-selling device; iPads pulled in 26 percent of sales.

Mike Fisher, ‎associate director of education technology noted in a statement that while his company has seen "strong success" for Chromebooks in this country, they've had "limited success" out of the United States. "Apple continues to maintain a strong position in developed markets, especially in Western Europe," he added.

Many Microsoft partners are offering detachable and convertible form factors, which are slowly gaining traction and are expected to gain share in 2015. Those include models from Lenovo, Acer, HP and Asus. "In terms of actual numbers, the adoption of these to data is quite low, but we expect this to increase," said Market Analyst Phillip Maddocks.

Futuresource predicted that growth in PC adoption would continue, although at a slower pace. The company projected 12 percent growth in 2015 worldwide and 10 percent in the United States.