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Live Coverage of Apple's Education-Focused Media Event

wovel said:
Reading old books often requires a bit of effort too. Unless you are happy to be the last person to read them.
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Hence our society's love of producing millions of copies of throw-away paperbacks which will and can only be read once or twice.
But a properly cared for old book - that's a beautiful thing.
 
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The new iTunesU app is brilliant. Checking it out on my iPhone. Can't wait to use it on my iPad. Seriously, it's brilliant. I wish it and iBooks was on Mac, too.
 
thenerdal said:
The problem with eduction in US is the education system. Don't think Apple can fix that.
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Due to poor tax returns in many states due to the recession, many states are now closing many school because of no money. This only worsens the state that our schools are in. No wonder we can not compete globally!
 
darkplanets said:
Presumably the school would distribute iPads, not the parents. This isn't college-- texts are the responsibility of the school system. Accordingly they will probably see it being cheaper to buy iPads, the much, much cheaper books, and give them out to kids (above a certain age level). When each book can run from $200-800 it's no surprise that the iPad model would be cheaper in many cases.

This will not end up as a "have" and "have nots" situation like some are lamenting. I question whether any of these people complaining actually have kids. Some public schools (even elementary) are already distributing laptops to students; whats so different about an iPad? After all it's probably going to save the school big money in the long run.
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My school is shutting down many of its after school activities because of budget cuts. Somehow I doubt they will be distributing any iPads.
 
Regarding the cost of an iPad, keep in mind 3 things:

1) Apple has PLENTY of room to discount the iPad for educational buyers, particularly if they are going to have the cost subsidized through the purchase of textbooks,

2) an iPad should last two or three years, and

3) Rumor has it that the iPad 2 will continue to sell at a lower price point when the iPad 3 goes on sale.

Personally, I think this is a pretty exciting development. Google, start your photocopiers...
 
Does anyone have a specific, verifiable example of a school district that picked up bulk iPads from Apple at a significant (say 40% or more) discount?
 
jsbaugh said:
What would keep me from taking my text books and copying them with iAuthor and making a killing? Sell them for $5 in ibooks.
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Copyright lawsuits?

Dgail said:
I find that that I actually prefer the iBook reader to the Kindle for iPad (was this intentional?) due to its ability to change fonts, font size and the "sepia" background as a means to lessen the effects of shiny glass glare. The Kindle for iPad seems to me to be a large PDF of what I am reading and does seem to be inflexible.
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The Kindle app on iOS also allows you to change font sizes and choose regular, inverted, or sepia color schemes.
 
Cigsm said:
As a father of four that is far from rich, do you now purchase every textbook?

Judging by your "haves & "have nots" comment, you seem to be one of the extremist right wing types, so I'm assuming you're all about the free market. This is the free market. If you don't want / can't afford an iPad for your kids, you can feel free to purchase a normal textbook. Nobody's forcing you to buy an iPad.
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Why so nasty?

He wasn't nasty. He was expressing a concern. And newsflash - right now public education is provided as are books for free (at least through high school). (Yes I am aware of taxes). This model COULD shift an additional burden to families. That's one (only one) of the points being raised.

Get off your judgmental high horse.
 
Next, Apple needs to tackle the eLearning market and build their own eLearning/test development software. Not only would it be huge for the educational market, but also for the training departments of large enterprises.
 
cajun67 said:
Regarding the cost of an iPad, keep in mind 3 things:

1) Apple has PLENTY of room to discount the iPad for educational buyers, particularly if they are going to have the cost subsidized through the purchase of textbooks,

2) an iPad should last two or three years, and

3) Rumor has it that the iPad 2 will continue to sell at a lower price point when the iPad 3 goes on sale.

Personally, I think this is a pretty exciting development. Google, start your photocopiers...
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I think you should keep something in mind. Apple is doing this for profit. Repeat - Apple is a business and is doing this as a BUSINESS venture. For Apple the advantages are numerous. Cynical - yes. But at the end of the day, Apple cares about profits and market penetration - not how someone else is going to afford it.
 
samcraig said:
I think you should keep something in mind. Apple is doing this for profit. Repeat - Apple is a business and is doing this as a BUSINESS venture. For Apple the advantages are numerous. Cynical - yes. But at the end of the day, Apple cares about profits and market penetration - not how someone else is going to afford it.
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exactly
 
darkplanets said:
Presumably the school would distribute iPads, not the parents. This isn't college-- texts are the responsibility of the school system. Accordingly they will probably see it being cheaper to buy iPads, the much, much cheaper books, and give them out to kids (above a certain age level). When each book can run from $200-800 it's no surprise that the iPad model would be cheaper in many cases.
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K-12 textbooks do not cost $200-$800.

More like $70-$100. And schools will use them for 5 to 10 years.

The $15 price point will be for one student for one year.
 
Hastings101 said:
Of course, none of this matters until schools actually have iPads available for every student in every classroom... which is unlikely to happen in anything but the wealthiest school districts for a few years, especially with the cuts in public education spending thanks to recent economic trouble.

Maybe Apple has thought up a way around that though.
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Public schools are already using them. In Iowa, some schools charge a student fee to help with the cost. A couple hundred bucks over 4 years.
 
thenerdal said:
Aren't textbooks free in High school? Mine were free. :confused:
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Text books are paid for with the school budget each year. The school budget is paid for by the tax payers in the town or city you go to school in. The text books are not free. Some towns/cities are so strapped for school funding that some have started charging for textbooks also. Most school now hang on to text books that are 5 or 10 years old.
 
canadianpj said:
Give it up. He has his opinion and we're all wrong if we disagree with a single part of any of it. He's made that much clear.

The school my niece goes to has lockers! There large enough to fit less than half of her books so long she puts nothing else in there like her lunch or what not. But no Eric, everything is fine just the way it is. Screw innovation.
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Brings back memories of standing in the snow waiting for my bus (public transportation) ... I had to lug all the binders and books that I had for the day back home or to campus to drop off in my locker.

I remember that it really sucked to walk across campus to get a book from my locker. Standing with a heavy parka (it was really cold) and a heavy backpack filled with books/notes ... and when I got on the bus, I had to stand for the entire time wacking people with the backpack every time I moved. (You can't take the backpack off and place it on the floor because it was disgusting with melted snow and dirt). If you got a seat on the bus, you sit with your parka on and the backpack on your lap using all available space...no room to place a text book to make use of bus time to read or study!

.
 
Nothing is free

Everone complaining about buying iPads for their highschool kid,

Do you really think the text books that the schools are buying are FREE AND NOT COMING OUT OF YOUR POCKETS? Where do your taxes go?

Yes, the schools will have to buy iPads, which are more expensive than books but they will update the books electronically, so the school isnt buying new $200 text books every other year when the new edition comes out. You don't have to worry about your child learning (or not learning for that matter) with a 10 year old book?
 
Cigsm said:
As a father of four that is far from rich, do you now purchase every textbook?

Judging by your "haves & "have nots" comment, you seem to be one of the extremist right wing types, so I'm assuming you're all about the free market. This is the free market. If you don't want / can't afford an iPad for your kids, you can feel free to purchase a normal textbook. Nobody's forcing you to buy an iPad.
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we already pay property taxes to buy school books for kids. are taxes going to go down now?
 
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I'm all for better education for everyone and think this is a great idea, but this is really a good marketing aproach by apple to sell another 100 million iPads to the US educational system. Plenty of profit for apple on ebooks, 15$ text book apps and what not. I repeat, good for education and even better for apple profits.
 
kas23 said:
Schools are already tight-budgeted as it is. People may state this will help schools, but I am skeptical. Apple is a corporation that has a duty to its shareholders to maximize profits, not to act as a charity or engage in acts of philanthropy. In fact, its shameful Apple is even entering the textbook business. But, I do agree that the existing publishing houses are killing schools now.
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kas23 said:
So, you are suggesting the real reason for Apple getting into the textbook market is to brainwash our youth and their parents into spending money on a more expense Apple product? Fantastic. And, since the majority of Apple's profits have come (and continue to come) from iPods and iPhones, double fantastic.
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Took the words out of my mouth.
 
can someone tell me if the author has an easy way to allow students to highlight, add notes, bookmarks, maybe even a feature to copy text and have the proper citation information come with it? These would all be very helpful for students.
 
acidblue said:
You are aware that there are "Restrictions" settings on iOS, right? You can disable Safari, YouTube, camera, FaceTime etc. Problem solved.
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And you are aware that most grade-school kids are a heck of a lot smarter than teachers/administrators when it comes to technology and they can probably hack/workaround/find out a password, right?

Also, for those who don't believe the whole "backpacks aren't too heavy for kids these days with all their books in it":

images
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I mean, really...the kid on the left looks like he's wearing 3 backpacks piled onto each other. I've even seen kids resorting to using these:

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I'm still up in the air about this until I see costs...I know the schools probably have to pay for the books so the kids don't have to, but how is this going to work if not everyone has an iPad?
 
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