I totally agree. While there were some publishers at the launch, I can only think of a handful of local print shops and professors having a conniption that their kickbacks just disappeared. While I'm sure some of there higher end text books that sell for the hundreds of dollars will try to get a similar price on the iBook store, that price will too fall. Not to mention jail-broken iPads and the inevitable pirate web sites distributing cracked eBooks.
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Apple Posts Video of iBooks and iTunes U Media Event
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I totally agree. While there were some publishers at the launch, I can only think of a handful of local print shops and professors having a conniption that their kickbacks just disappeared. While I'm sure some of there higher end text books that sell for the hundreds of dollars will try to get a similar price on the iBook store, that price will too fall. Not to mention jail-broken iPads and the inevitable pirate web sites distributing cracked eBooks.
Utility of iPad is greater than a book
Agreed £395 is significant, and the equivalent of a semester's worth of college level books in the US, but there would be a net savings at the end of a the first year if all books were available. But all of this calculation ignores the reality that an iPad has the additional utility of a laptop, a de facto requirement in US colleges. This makes the iPad an economically compelling device for families who are equipping college bound freshman. For those considering an iPad for a high school student there is the promise the investment would carry them through college.
Finally, the hand-me-down nature of technology combined with the durability of iPads and this additional utility bodes well that they'll end up in the hands of younger siblings or as donations to schools at about the time a significant amount of curriculum comes into the format.
Agreed £395 is significant, and the equivalent of a semester's worth of college level books in the US, but there would be a net savings at the end of a the first year if all books were available. But all of this calculation ignores the reality that an iPad has the additional utility of a laptop, a de facto requirement in US colleges. This makes the iPad an economically compelling device for families who are equipping college bound freshman. For those considering an iPad for a high school student there is the promise the investment would carry them through college.
Finally, the hand-me-down nature of technology combined with the durability of iPads and this additional utility bodes well that they'll end up in the hands of younger siblings or as donations to schools at about the time a significant amount of curriculum comes into the format.
I find it more than a little ridiculous that they rate the iPad as more "durable" than a book. They talk about books being overly worn from use by students (as a negative in comparison to the iPad) but I'd expect that an iPad would not survive even one year of use by the average pre-high school student.
Just try to make an iPad last as long as a book while being used day-in and day-out by a young student, it isn't going to happen. They should have avoided the durability issue completely rather than trying to make it seem like the iPad would be more rugged than a book.
That said, as an information appliance the iPad is leaps and bounds ahead of a printed book and I applaud Apple's efforts to bring text books to the iPad and iOS.
Just try to make an iPad last as long as a book while being used day-in and day-out by a young student, it isn't going to happen. They should have avoided the durability issue completely rather than trying to make it seem like the iPad would be more rugged than a book.
That said, as an information appliance the iPad is leaps and bounds ahead of a printed book and I applaud Apple's efforts to bring text books to the iPad and iOS.
I don't really get the criticism of Phil - I have just finished watching the event and he did a great job. Granted, it wasn't anything as exciting as an iPad unveiling, but you really got a sense of how much Apple as a company care about evolving and revolutionizing the education space.
The textbooks are a great idea and it will be interesting to see how well they are adopted by educators and publishers.
iBook Author is a really good tool from the half hour I have just spent playing with it - aside from enabling really easy content publishing, hopefully its also indicative of the next versions of iWork.
iTunes U also looks a good app for those who do enjoy that content - makes me wish they would release a similar app for podcasts with subscriptions, automatic downloads etc.
The textbooks are a great idea and it will be interesting to see how well they are adopted by educators and publishers.
iBook Author is a really good tool from the half hour I have just spent playing with it - aside from enabling really easy content publishing, hopefully its also indicative of the next versions of iWork.
iTunes U also looks a good app for those who do enjoy that content - makes me wish they would release a similar app for podcasts with subscriptions, automatic downloads etc.
A better tablet PC has already been done. The only big downside is that it costs $1,299. Textbooks aren't too durable, either. Textbooks that are one to five years old can already show paper tears, pencil and pen marks, and stains from food and drinks. Then the "next edition" comes out, and the textbook is obsolete.
I'm holding a $200 textbook that was replaced by a "next edition" while I was using it. It has value to me, but the resale value to most students and schools is dead. The students end up throwing away the textbooks, and schools keep using the old edition or throw the books into a storage closet.
There's a lot of waste happening, but there is an answer for the junior high school and above that doesn't involve everybody having to buy a new iPad or laptop. The course instructor should have whatever he wants to teach with, and then create universal documents so the students can download the course materials onto anything they want. If they have an iPad and want to buy a textbook, let them. If they want to use a regular book that they found at a book sale, let them. If the iPad is to be an interactive tool for each student in the classroom, the school-owned iPads should not leave the classroom with the students.
The technology doesn't usually get broken in the classroom. It gets broken when the student has it in a bookbag and drops it onto the hallway floor in his haste to find his homework and run to the classroom before the bell rings. It gets broken when the student puts it on a cafeteria table and spills a soda on it, or when a bully walking down the bus aisle steals the iPad and throws it through an open window. I haven't seen any tablets or laptops broken in the classroom that wasn't related to a deliberate act of vandalism. Theft is more likely than property damage, and it's more the iPod than the iPad that gets stolen. The benefits of digital books, however, outweigh the risks of damage to tablet PCs.