Apple Inc. unveiled, as expected, an updated iPad at an education event at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep public high school on Tuesday. Apple’s cheaper 9.7-inch iPad will support its Apple Pencil stylus. The new iPad will retail for $329, and at a discounted $299 for schools. It’s an effort meant to help Apple fend off Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s increasing presence in U.S. schools, where Microsoft tablets also compete. The iPad is also getting an A10 Fusion chip, which Apple claimed will be “more powerful than every [Google] Chromebook.” The company said that managed Apple IDs for school use will have 200 gigabytes of storage. Also announced, a cloud-based Schoolwork app will be available in June, allowing teachers to make virtual assignments and track student work, similar to Google Classroom. Apple said Tuesday that iPad’s more than 1 million built-in apps, including 200,000 that are education-specific, are key to classroom popularity. Apple is also believed to be working on a new developer framework called ClassKit, the blog 9to5Mac has reported. The code push, plus cheaper hardware, shows a renewed effort from Apple in the education market. Pre-event reporting also suggested that a less-expensive 13-inch Retina MacBook is in the works, for a possible June release, although that was not unveiled at the Tuesday presentation. Apple shares traded higher after the news, last up about 0.7% Tuesday after climbing more than 1%. Shares are up roughly 20% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, has gained 16% in the same time frame.
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