Microsoft counters Chromebooks in schools with new “Intune for Education” device and app management service, and low-cost PCs starting at $189
Todd Bishop / GeekWire :
Context & Ripple Effects
By late 2015, Chromebooks already accounted for half of devices sold to US K-12 schools, and the New York Times has since traced how Google outmaneuvered Apple and Microsoft over five years by pairing cheap hardware with free Classroom, Docs, and Gmail. Apple's slide is now confirmed: both Microsoft and Google have surpassed Apple in mobile devices shipped to schools.
Microsoft's answer, reported by GeekWire's Todd Bishop, is a two-part counter: Intune for Education, a device-and-app management service aimed at the IT simplicity that made Chromebooks attractive to districts, plus Windows PCs starting at $189 — matching Chromebook price points directly rather than ceding the low end.
First-order effects
- School district IT buyers gain a Windows option priced at Chromebook levels ($189) with centralized device and app management through Intune for Education, removing the two main reasons deployments defaulted to Google.
- The move puts direct pricing pressure on the low-cost laptop segment where Chromebooks dominate, forcing every vendor bidding for school contracts to compete at that price floor.
Second-order effects
- Google must now defend its classroom franchise on management tooling as well as price, since Intune for Education attacks the administrative simplicity — not just the hardware cost — that drove Chromebook adoption.
- Apple faces a squeeze from both sides: with Microsoft and Google already ahead of it in school device shipments, sub-$200 Windows machines further erode the mid-tier iPad and Mac position in education budgets.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US classroom computing consolidates into a two-platform contest between Google and Microsoft decided by management software and per-seat economics, with hardware largely commoditized — leaving Apple to compete for a premium niche rather than volume.
- Education procurement increasingly rewards whoever bundles device, OS, apps, and administration into one contract, pushing vendors toward platform lock-in strategies that begin with students and follow them into later purchasing decisions.
The trend: US school computing is settling into a Google-versus-Microsoft platform war fought at commodity prices, with management software — not hardware specs — as the deciding layer.