Texas Instruments Shifts Focus to PC-like OS for the Graphic Calculator

Posted 09/09/2009 at 1:23pm | by Paul Lilly

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School is back in session, and that means you or someone you know is probably in the market for a TI-83 or TI-84 graphing calculator. Never mind that Texas Instruments released a more high-tech version last year called the TI-Nspire. The problem, some math teachers say, is that the Nspire is more complex than it needs to be, even if it does function more like a computer than any calculator you've used before.

"TI-Nspire is a bit of a different model. It is taking us more time to have the market understand that," said Melendy Lovett, head of TI's education technology unit.

While the five-year-old TI-84 Plus remains Texas Instruments' best selling calculator, the Dallas-based company hopes the Nspire will solidify its position as the market leader in the oft-overlooked, yet highly profitable calculator business.

So what makes the Nspire so different? An OS that makes the handheld number cruncher function more like a PC, for one. Students and teachers can run spreadsheets, take notes, view multiple representations of a problem on a single screen, create, save, and review work in electronic documents, and more.

"It sings, it dances, it does the dishes for you," said math tutor and retired teacher Lucinda MacKinnon, who also owns an Nspire. "I can't imagine getting teachers to use that thing in the classroom. There is way too much going on."

Forget about figures of speech - if Texas Instruments comes up with a program that would allow the Nspire to do the dishes, it could charge double the $135 asking price.

Image Credit: cslaurenides.qc.ca