Comments on: Apple boldly reinvents the school textbook with iBooks 2 and iTunes U, but will educators bite? http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apple-boldly-reinvents-the-school-textbook-with-ibooks-2-and-itunes-u-but-will-educators-bite/ Digital Trends is your home for technology news, CE product reviews, mobile app reviews and daily videos. Wed, 22 May 2013 05:35:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Richard Delgado http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apple-boldly-reinvents-the-school-textbook-with-ibooks-2-and-itunes-u-but-will-educators-bite/#comment-436315 Richard Delgado Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:22:56 +0000 http://www.digitaltrends.com/?p=331163#comment-436315 There are so many unknowns about this, but I think it’s a brilliant idea. Yes, iPads are not cheap, but has anyone checked out the price of college textbooks recently? I am aware that the iPad’s price makes it cost-prohibitive for a lot of families (mine included) but who knows what Apple has planned. With all the rumors about multiple iPads and entry-level iPads out there, perhaps Apple will be doing a deep student discount, or releasing the “student iPad”.

Or, who knows, maybe schools would be willing to partially subsidize them, rather than spend millions to issue free textbooks every year, knowing that they will be out-of-date when the next school year comes around.

It’s possible that, despite the cost of an iPad, it could actually be cost-effective to ditch traditional books in favor of the iBooks!

]]> By: Tom Acox http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apple-boldly-reinvents-the-school-textbook-with-ibooks-2-and-itunes-u-but-will-educators-bite/#comment-436105 Tom Acox Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:42:09 +0000 http://www.digitaltrends.com/?p=331163#comment-436105 It is an Apple product so it will be slick, no doubt. Full disclosure: I work in college publishing. Does that mean I have insight or wool firmly pulled over my eyes? Your call.

Three Things Struck Me

1. There was no mention of a complex gradebook or Learning Management System (think Blackboard). This is fine for high school but won’t turn to gold instantly in college where professors are starting to rely heavily on homework systems.

2. Apple does not want to be in the content business — if they did they would have a record label and movie studio by now. This was a strategic move partnering with the biggest K-12 publishers (aka not higher ed).

3. All the major publishers already have the tools Apple is announcing (highlighting/search/notes).

Right now only about 5% of the student population access textbooks via a mobile device and fewer on an iPad. Apple has been having mini-conferences for about 2-3 years with major representation from high school and virtually no higher ed attendees. Why? Apple is seeding the HS market. If these kids use digital texts for four years in high school provided by the school they are not going to want to then pay $200 for a physical intro psych book in college. iPad sales! Which is actually great for higher education publishers because Apple makes excellent platforms, tools, and is great at digital distribution but not content creation. Students purchasing habits will accelerate quicker to eBooks which bring new revenue every semester and will allow for cheaper prices in the college market. Everyone wins? No, not exactly. Some romantically lament the extinction of local book and record shops. Its the same here. The real loser will be the campus book store who currently marks up text prices by up to 45% for simply housing the books. Will you cry when the book store is gone?

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