Analysts at Futuresource, a market-research consultancy, are bullish on the growth of 2-in-1 devices in the K-12 personal computing market. This class of devices feature detachable or convertible keyboards that can be used either as a traditional laptop or as a tablet.
The strength of the 2-in-1 devices is their “form factor,” said Mike Fisher, Futuresource’s associate director of education technology. Their ability to accommodate apps that encourage tactile interactions with touchscreens as well as traditional efficiency of word processing and research on a keyboard makes the flexible devices “almost ideal” for the education market, he said.
Source: Futuresource Consulting, copyright 2016
Globally, the total number of all personal-computing devices sold to the K-12 market is projected to drop this year, before rebounding in 2017, according to Futuresource. The U.S. K-12 market for these devices, meanwhile, continues to grow.
