HarperCollins Negotiating With Apple Over e-Books on New Tablet Device?

liavman said:
How does one resell or rent out an e-textbook? Those are possible with the paper ones.
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You dont

Peace said:
This is true and probably wont change. What will change is a student walking around campus with 10 books under their arm. Instead it will just be a 10.1" device.

That in itself is worth it. I remember having to walk around campus with 10 books. I hated it. If I could walk around with just a ******* it would make my day much better.
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This announcement date has been in a little bit of a bind. I would love to get most of my books on this thing for this semester, but seeing how it prolly wont be out for a while I prolly will have to buy real books for the last time this spring.
 
I think iMedia would be an appropriate name. All forms of entertainment (music, movies, TV, etc) are considered media. iTunes just needs the paper trifecta: books, magazines and newspaper. Great way to save trees and great for traveling, but takes the nostalgia out of reading...


DipDog3 said:
iTunes will now carry books.

Makes me wonder if iTunes is still a good name for the program?
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AidenShaw said:
When you have problems/questions in real life, it's "open book" - you can use any resource to find the answer to your problem.

Is it more important to memorize a small set of answers, or to know how to research the answer to unexpected questions?

In my undergraduate program, we'd usually be given 5 days to work on the exams. Much closer to "real life" than some rote memorization tests.
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These days we get an hour and twenty minutes for a mid-term exam and three hours for a final exam. How did they give you five days for an exam and what did you study?
 
liavman said:
How does one resell or rent out an e-textbook? Those are possible with the paper ones.
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The library does this with e-books. The file basically contains a timer. When the times expires the book is no longer readable. So it's doable, but it may take a bit of time.
 
chezhoy said:
I think iMedia would be an appropriate name. All forms of entertainment (music, movies, TV, etc) are considered media. iTunes just needs the paper trifecta: books, magazines and newspaper. Great way to save trees and great for traveling, but takes the nostalgia out of reading...
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Me, I'd like to see Apple take this golden opportunity to finally drop the "i" thing. It's time. Really. Name the tablet the Newton. And rename iTunes something more universal, something that happens not to begin with "i."

(Though not something lame, like "Zune Marketplace.")

And for the love of all that's holy, no more lowercase naming conventions either (iPod touch, Mac mini). Ugh.

liavman said:
How does one resell or rent out an e-textbook? Those are possible with the paper ones.
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thecartoonguy said:
The library does this with e-books. The file basically contains a timer. When the times expires the book is no longer readable. So it's doable, but it may take a bit of time.
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Apple already rents videos. Renting textbooks (or any books) would pose no challenge at all. Though I doubt they'd be interested in such a prospect.
 
LagunaSol said:
There's no reason these types of notations can't be replicated electronically - with all the additional benefits digital data provides.
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Sure there is. These are just fields I've had experience with where any sort of electronic note-taking ability would be cumbersome compared to paper (due to kludginess of allowing inputing of the appropriate symbols/graphics/formatting): math, solid state physics, electrical engineering, organic chemistry, computer engineering.
 
Yr Blues said:
Every time you load the book or move it within your computer, you're making multiple copies. This is a lawyer's worst nightmare. :D
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Not really. You'd obviously be licensed to make these copies, just like when you download music on iTunes. Unfortunately the text will be so wrapped with DRM that moving it to an un-blessed device will be pointless (until, inevitably, someone breaks the DRM).
 
So.....HarperCollins places an article in their sister publication in order to test reaction to the floater that they might want to charge more than $9.99.

I imagine His Jobsness is demanding no more than $9.99 for an enhanced ebook, with a basic ebook at $6.99.

The publishers are resisting.
 
cmaier said:
Not really. You'd obviously be licensed to make these copies, just like when you download music on iTunes. Unfortunately the text will be so wrapped with DRM that moving it to an un-blessed device will be pointless (until, inevitably, someone breaks the DRM).
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It's like giving you the right to make a chair out of the wood in your own backyard. Strange days.
 
entropys said:
So.....HarperCollins places an article in their sister publication in order to test reaction to the floater that they might want to charge more than $9.99.

I imagine His Jobsness is demanding no more than $9.99 for an enhanced ebook, with a basic ebook at $6.99.

The publishers are resisting.
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I doubt he's playing that fixed price card - it makes absolutely no sense with books. After all, a brand new book can range in price from $2.99 to several thousands of dollars (just as an example, technical journals or bar review materials).
 
cmaier said:
I wouldn't put it past Apple to claim a monopoly on books on the device (probably iPhone and iPod Touch, too) and to stop permitting ebook apps that don't go through their new iTunes e-book service.
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If Apple blocks the Kindle app from in-app purchases -- which will make you continue to buy your Kindle books on Amazon and then sync to the app -- I don't see Kindle gaining any traction against iTunes Store books sales.

If the TV subscription thing is a go, Apple's tablet could be a Kindle killer AND a Comcast killer.
 
NeuralControl said:
If the device is priced right, and electronic textbooks are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts, this could be a huge hit with college students. Textbooks, especially science ones, are extremely expensive.
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What I see here is that the textbook publisher can publish more than one versions of their textbooks through the e-book channel. For example, they can publish a factual version of history for the US states that want them and a fictional version that meets the Texas standards.
 
Porchland said:
If Apple blocks the Kindle app from in-app purchases -- which will make you continue to buy your Kindle books on Amazon and then sync to the app -- I don't see Kindle gaining any traction against iTunes Store books sales.

If the TV subscription thing is a go, Apple's tablet could be a Kindle killer AND a Comcast killer.
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My fear is that if Apple gets into eBooks Apple will also block the kindle reader
 
Niteace said:
This device seriously needs to have 'e-ink'. If it has that as well as a regular screen I think that would grab my attention..
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That's not going to happen. e-ink isn't in color yet (probably won't be for at least another 18-24 months) and can't do video.
 
LagunaSol said:
There's no reason these types of notations can't be replicated electronically - with all the additional benefits digital data provides.



Unfortunately the foundation of our antiquated educational system is rote memorization. :(



Yeah, and there's no way an automobile will replace a horse. :rolleyes:

It's obvious why some people run technology companies and others just provide anonymous commentary on Web forums. Vision (the former). And lack thereof (the latter).

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
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Completely agree. If you ask anyone what a Mac, iPod or iPhone is, chances are quite high they either own 1 out of the 3, or at least are familiar with the product(s). Now, maybe Apple has had some less than stellar/successul products (AppleTV), but the iPod sold/are selling like hotcakes, iPhones are now following the same pathway, and although with less sales traction, Macs in general are picking up more popularity too. If anyone is going to begin a revolution of this type, it's definitely Apple. I'm not saying the change will be overnight, but if this tablet/slate/whatever has some substantial e-book functionality, expect this to be the new norm within 10 years.
 
My fear is that if Apple gets into eBooks Apple will also block the kindle reader
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As a precedence, I wonder if other music web site companies that directly compete with Apple tried to get an e-commerce music app approved by Apple.
 
NeuralControl said:
These days we get an hour and twenty minutes for a mid-term exam and three hours for a final exam. How did they give you five days for an exam and what did you study?
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One of the questions in the Classical Mechanics (as opposed to Quantum Mechanics) final exam was a pool table with 10 balls. The exam question was to clear the table of your balls (you could choose which color). Constraints were that at least one pocket was direct, and at least one was at least a single bank. The ball placement was such that at least one shot was "wasted" on getting opposing balls out of the way. You could assume that all collisions were elastic.

... and spending a weekend solving that problem reinforced everything covered during the semester.
 
The demo video accompanying the article is quite compelling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSjXO7Odh9E

It shows how an Apple-like tablet might be used as a textbook device (at least from the perspective of e-text book publisher CourseSmart).

I enjoyed the the integration of text, notes, video, net, and schedule in the overarching touch interface. If this is just one application of Apple's fabled tablet, it certainly makes me all the more eager to see what Apple actually releases next week.
 
paulyras said:
Oh, and for the love of god, would it kill you to throw in WSJ.com access so I can read archived stories? Apparently that was a bit much to ask for the Kindle subscription, even though I can get a print version delivered to my door every day and WSJ.com access for less money.
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I think one of the greatest advantages of the electronic medium versus the paper medium would be, that it would technically be possible to search the entire back catalogue of any digital medium (if you subscribe to it) and order single articles or entire issues and get them delivered/downloaded instantly.

Apple has implemented these features technically already in iPhone OS 3.0:
  • Spotlight search - it can search emails that are on the server (back catalogue of issues or newspapers in iTunes store)
  • In-App purchases (order articles or issues within the e-book application)

This would be a great feature that would truly extend the functionality of e-reading and give it an extra edge over the paper version. In addition it would make Apple tons of money, which would give them a good reason to implement it.. :cool:
 
cmaier said:
My fear is that if Apple gets into eBooks Apple will also block the kindle reader
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It would also be possible that Apple just blocks it on the tablet, but leaves it enabled for the iPhone.

I can see that happening with many applications that might not be suitable for the large screen. There will definitely be some kind of qualification system for apps as was the case for the migration from iPhone OS 2.0 to 3.0. Existing apps will only be enabled for the large screen if they qualify for a set of predetermined criteria. I think that a (large or medium) portion of developers would decide to not make the jump to a larger screen because their app just does not add any more value that way.
 
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