Apple acquires education startup LearnSprout

Apple has acquired the education startup LearnSprout, the company has confirmed. LearnSprout offers a simplistic but robust way for schools and educators to monitor their students' academic performance, and according to its website, thousands of school districts across the United States already use the platform. The acquisition is reportedly to help Apple bolster the educational tools available on its iPad.

Apple confirmed the acquisition, though as is common, it didn't go into any details about what plans it has in place. Instead, a company spokesman provided the canned and generic statement, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do no discuss our purpose or plans."

According to LearnSprout's website, its educational platform is sort of like an analytics tool for the classroom, providing educators and schools with details like how many students are being tracked, where the students rank (which grade they're prepared for, for example), college readiness, courses, attendance, and more.

Bloomberg is reporting Apple has made the acquisition so that it can develop its own educational software and, in particular, make educational tools for the iPad including tracking and lessons; where it got this information isn't clear. Apple, however, did not confirm that intention itself.

SOURCE: Bloomberg