ePad: Apple's New 8" Tablet for Education

What are the features that would make iPad adoption even greater among K-12 schools? Those institutions are very price sensitive, so even $400 can be prohibitive. Security would dictate that cameras may be more of a liability than a feature in this market. Other fancy features like the new iPad's Retina Display and 4G LTE cellular networking are equally superfluous. Even massive storage is less important given the focus on books and educational apps. Finally, kids are smaller than adults. Having a smaller screen and user interface does not require them to sand down their fingertips.

Coincidentally, all of these factors work together toward one killer product for the education market. It seems logical that Apple will christen it ePad, following the convention of the past eMac in relation to iMac. Given the choice rumors from the past year, a bit of logic, and bill of materials from previous products, we can predict the specifications of ePad.

Display: 7.85" diagonal, 1024x768 resolution
Storage: 16gb
Cameras: none
Price: $249-299*

*(Estimated bill of materials: Display- $75, Memory- $20, Battery- $15, Processors $10, Gyros & Wifi- $15, Enclosure- $20, Manufacture- $5. Total ~$160. Standard 80% markup = $288. With a smaller markup, 56% markup = $249.)