Apple's 'iPad Mini' to Strengthen Education Presence Alongside iBooks 3.0

If anyone buys it at that price point..............

Why would anyone buy something in iBooks? You can only read them on iOS but you still get the same price point as on kindle which is on every tablet, pc or phone.

I aslo think this is failing hard for them, the major textbook they released (and the only one that made it to the german ibooks) never got any of the regular payed updates they promised. Besides the fact that it´s one chapter already was over a gig.

It´s to restricted by OS and by current Mobile Datastorage.


Finaly give me that new iMac. I need one, i could get an old one but i am not willing to pay a two year old price on it.

$329 for base version...

jasonxneo said:

If anyone buys it at that price point..............

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or you can calm yourself and just get a plastic kindle fire.

Would like to see an update to iBooks Author.

I just want to read the books on my Macs.

Is another filetype enough to warrant a jump from 2.x to 3.0? When they went from 1.x to 2.0, they added an entire new style of ebook, capable of all sorts of tricks that eBooks can't really do. I'm just curious about what iBooks 3.0 would have in it to be able to call it a whole new version.

Also, have iPad textbooks been doing anything for the education market? Or have they flopped? I really haven't heard anything about them since they released, and it doesn't look like the selection has improved much since day 1.

I'm not shocked to see 'education' getting mentioned with this event. I don't buy any talk that it is THE topic of mention but I do think that it will be a strong one over business etc. But not just education in the sense of schools. There's also just at home with games etc. A smaller sized iPad has an appeal both physically and price as a device for Junior so he can play his kiddie games on his own thing and stop using Mom or Dad's iPad. No parent is going to really be swayed by flashy games like Infinity Blade but show how they can play learning games and all that "tech is bad for kids" takes a hit. Another reason to buy and the holidays are on the horizon. As is 'time to make the budget for next year' for schools. So it's an education double hit.

Rumor has it that iBooks 3.0 might also include cbr/cbz support which will increase possibilities on the reading front. And some happy news in that direction will be good to dampen all the DOJ stuff. So that will get a mention.

Hopefully there's some news on the iTunes store front as well. Not just layout but pricing etc. It would be great to hear news that more studios are committing to Extras and its is now iOS compat for ipads and Apple TV, that all the missing back seasons of tv shows are being added, everything is being brought up to at least 720p with multiple language audio and subtitles and prices are going down across the board. And places like HBO are stopping this year after the season ends before we release it nonsense. THAT kind of stuff would really take a hit on Amazon, Google play and torrenting (if they could get global after first OTA in any country that would be a big kill on the last item as well)

I know it's relatively new, but as a university student (studying geology with planetary science), I can say that the textbook feature in iBooks is useless (for me anyway).

There are no serious textbooks on the iBooks store at all (at least none of the 25+ recommended texts for my course this year). Seems like just a gimmick at the present...

Doesn't Apple see how little sense it makes to buy anything in iBooks? Buy once, read on . . . iOS.

If I want to read anything on my Mac, I buy on Amazon and use their free kindle software. That automatically tells my iPhone, iPad, and PC at work what page I was on when I stopped reading . . .

DrRadon said:

Why would anyone buy something in iBooks? You can only read them on iOS but you still get the same price point as on kindle which is on every tablet, pc or phone. .

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Maybe iBooks 3.0 will support a Mac Application too?

IT in education is currently institutional buying. Some day education may drift back to family centric or civic organization centric, which will drastically lower the cost of it as well as greatly improve the efficacy. It's just an iPad, but it is also every textbook and learning method right in the hand of the student. That could be a thing.

Rocketman

cite:
http://www.khanacademy.org/about

I'm pretty sure we will see iBooks come to OSX.

Meh... MACrumors!

jasonxneo said:

If anyone buys it at that price point..............

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At what price point? Apple hasn't announced any yet. Also no school or business that buys in bulk pays retail. Prices are negotiated, and often 20-40% below retail. Most companies think of Edu sales as a "loss leader," because students then go home and ask the parents for their own.

DrRadon said:

Why would anyone buy something in iBooks? You can only read them on iOS but you still get the same price point as on kindle which is on every tablet, pc or phone....

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Agree. Every time I come to buy a new e-book, I find myself wanting to buy it on iBooks to 'enjoy the Apple experience', but then common sense asks me why, when I can buy it from Amazon at the same price, still read it on my iPad but also be able to read it on my Kindle (or any other device with a Kindle app)?

Not everyone's got a Kindle of course, but you're still looking at the issue of: all other things being equal, why would you buy an ebook only readable on your iOS device when you could buy a version also readable on a raft of other devices? Is the iBooks reading experience really any better than the iOS Kindle app?

Sadly, the only iBooks I own are freebies, any e-books I've paid for paid for are from Amazon.

charlituna said:

Rumor has it that iBooks 3.0 might also include cbr/cbz support which will increase possibilities on the reading front. And some happy news in that direction will be good to dampen all the DOJ stuff. So that will get a mention.

Click to expand...

Okay, cool. But how the foxtrot do you get the files into the iPad? If I have a few dozen scanned comics in cbr/cbz format, will they create a conduit of sorts so I can get them into my iPad without repurchasing them? Man, I really hope so.

I tried ages ago when I bought my first gen iPod Touch. There was an app called 'Pull Lists' which started off buggy and fairly useless and went . . . nowhere. It stayed buggy and useless.

You know what ... the more I think about this iPad Mini the more I can see how useful it would be.

I love my "new" iPad and we have become quite close during the past few weeks since my iMac died; my iPad has been my only (apart from my iPhone) device.

However, as much as I love my iPad it is just too big for me to take out & about with me ... it is purely an "indoor device" with me.

But ... an iPad Mini would be a nice size for taking out & about.

The only thing is it would have to have a retina display otherwise I wouldn't consider it. I had to pass on the first two iPads as the text was too fuzzy for me. I now that millions got on well with it but I just didn't like it.

Roll on tomorrow!

And I hope we manage to get a few iMac rumours in before then!

I for one would be very happy if iBooks 3.0 allowed at least some compatibility to view 'iPad only' books on say an iPhone 5.

I created a book using iBooks Author, but it's only available on the iPad. Yes it may be a bit small to read on an iPhone, but I think it's doable. Especially since mine is mostly a picture book. I would at least like to have the option available, even if it needs to be enabled by the author. For example, the free 'Yellow Submarine' book works with iPads and iPhones. Why not give this option to iBooks Author users?

I agree that I do not see Apple being able to sell textbooks in their ibook format. Too many people want the freedom of owning a physical textbook. With this ibooks thing you are stuck with Apple with little flexibility.

However I am literally studying Macroeconomics on my iPad this very semester. I bought a digital copy of my textbook from http://www.coursesmart.com/ and it works great! Seems they designed their online ebook system to work well with the iPad. I really do enjoy it reading my material on the iPad. Ebooks have some nice features such as a search bar too. With course smart I still have flexibility as it will work on ANY web browser. The fact it works on the iPad is an unplanned bonus.

If anything apple would be wisest to buy out this course smart company. Or copy exactly what they are doing. They even have an offline system!

The screen is the key for the iPad mini. How could It compete against a device like the Kindle, without a reflective screen using something similar to e-ink. I think the mini is going to have a COLOR reflective screen.

Maybe the Edu version will be a LOT cheaper?

gmanist1000 said:

Maybe iBooks 3.0 will support a Mac Application too?

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I agree with this. A major overhaul in iTunes may be the beginning of this all as well, since everyone already has iTunes on nearly every computer and a redesign would be needed for this to take effect.

Eddy Cue has been a major push behind the iPad, iBooks in schools, and he is also a major person behind iTunes. Makes total sense if he is trying to merge it all into one seamless experience.

Obviously Apple wants to sell iPads. But many out there in education already have Macs. Unless Apple starts supporting iBooks on Mac OS X as well as iOS, I don't see iBooks taking off.

You can buy any of the other media content (videos, music) and use it on any device in the Apple ecosystem. Buy an iBook right from iTunes ON YOUR MAC, and you have no way to view it. Very poor strategy.

Buy a book from Amazon - read it on iPhone, iPad, Mac, a PC, a Kindle, an Android phone, Windows Phone, any web browser - even a >gasp< Blackberry!