Google is winding down its Google Play for Education program. The company has confirmed to a news outlet or two that it will stop selling licenses to partner tablet vendors on March 14th.

In other news, yes, Google had a Google Play for Education program. The initiative launched in 2013 with the intention of providing educators with Android tablets and an ecosystem of educational software and content. Google worked with educators to curate this content. The program began in the US and eventually made its way to the UK and Canada.

While Google is pulling out, the company isn't leaving school systems that bought into the program entirely out to dry. Users will still be able to access the current selection of educational content from the Play Store, and Google will offer support for the remainder of the existing licenses.

School systems haven't flocked to Android tablets in nearly the way they've embraced Chromebooks here in the US. Considering that iPads were already entrenched among schools that want tablets and they're generally viewed as better devices, it's little surprise that schools did not jump up and down for cheaper hardware from Samsung and Asus.

Chromebooks, on the other hand, offer that sweet balance of being easy to control and cheap to replace relative to other laptops. Google will continue Google for Education with selling Chromebooks as its primary focus.

Source: CRN

Via: TechCrunch