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McGraw-Hill Tossed From iPad Media Event After Premature Confirmation?

Why the secrecy

chappy87 said:
... Seriously, Steve needs to grow up. Throwing his toys out of the pram for no reason other than we were told all we knew anyway just before he took to the stage. Perspective, please.
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In this industry, and specially for Apple, keeping new products and plans secret is paramount.

The first "mobile computing" company ever, Osborne, went bust by pre-announcing their latest and greatest.

The Newton could have had a more enthusiastic reception by a more lenient public if it hadn't been pre-announced for so long in advance.

Tablets were a failure. Few people actually used them. All the tablet rage of late is the industry trying to preempt Apple, based on leaks.

Then there is the event itself. This industry is news driven. Nobody wants to cover even Steve Jobs talking non news. All the excitement is lost. Instead of Apple being at the center of the afternoon news, it becomes a fight for who said it first.

But little bits of information only create misconceptions, conveying the wrong message.

The concept needs to be presented in whole and in context in order for the potential customers to understand whether they need one and why.

Now we know the iPad is not a traditional "tablet", or it'd have been a Mac with a "mouse touch-screen". And it's not an iPhone/iPod Touch on steroids either.

It's a new platform, based on the iPhone, which I don't think a book publisher could have explained, let alone understood.
 
Just my 2 cents.

This is just my 2 cents...

All those publishing companies are trade companies, they publish books for pleasure reading. (just look at the websites of each publisher and what books they offer)

McGraw-Hill is focused on higher education and information...

Look at what there website offers and what companies they own: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/

Beyond that if you look up Macmillan on google it seems that they have a little partnership or something with McGraw-Hill: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...s_narrow&resnum=4&ct=revision&ved=0CCEQ3gIwAw

I THINK that McGraw-Hill was never in the slideshow in the first place. I'm sure Apple is working with other major publishing companies as well that were not on the slide show either.

:apple:
 
DougB541 said:
Um lets be smart about this.

Its not company vs. company money wise.

Its Apple trying to convince people to buy a product.
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And the publishing industry has been struggling over the past few years, MH included. So one could easily say that MH needs Apple at least as much as Apple needs MH. Apple has built its $40billion cash on hand without an iPad.
 

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So, at what point was it confirmed that McGraw-Hill was meant to be on this slide?
 
rofl

I would love to have seen SJ face when he saw that clip!!! Some say he smashed his ipad against his 3D home theatre tv!! :D
 
DrMotownMac said:
And unlike NBC (which is the lowest rated network on the air these days), McGraw-Hill is, I believe, the LARGEST publisher of school textbooks. So, it's easy to have good TV shows on iTunes without NBC. Not so easy to have good textbooks on the iPad without McGraw-Hill.
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Are you talking about the K-12 market? College? Combined?

Of course, this is one company's own claim, but:
"Houghton, which traces its origins back to 1832, has in recent years focused on kindergarten through high school. It now claims to be the largest publisher of educational materials for prekindergarten through grade 12." (See http://www.boston.com/business/tech...isher_enters_new_chapter_in_textbooks/?page=2)

You might also want to have a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textbook (I know that Wikipedia is not necessarily to be trusted.)

As of January 2009, the four largest college textbook publishers in the United States were:
Pearson Education (including such imprints as Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall)
Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning)
McGraw-Hill
Houghton Mifflin (including Harcourt)

So it seems that they may not be the largest K-12 publisher and maybe only the third largest college publisher. I guess they could still be the largest overall, but I don't think so.
 
If Apple gives McGraw-Hill more than a hand slap, I believe it would hurt the iPad in the long run. This would open the door for a war with some other tablet in the higher Education area. We have this book and they don't... Would hate to see a college kid with more than one tablet!!!!!!!!
 
Update: According to Digital Daily, McGraw-Hill has denied that it was scheduled to be a part of Apple's media event presentation and that the company had advance knowledge of the iPad's details.
"As a company deeply involved in the digitization of education and business information, we were as interested as anyone in the launch of the new device, although we were never part of the launch event and never in a position to confirm details about the device ahead of time," Steven Weiss, VP of Corporate Communications for The McGraw-Hill Companies said in a statement given to Digital Daily.

According to Weiss, McGraw's speculative comments were simply rehashing the many rumors about Apple's tablet introduction and were misconstrued by others as a confirmation. Digital Daily also notes that its sources have indicated that McGraw-Hill had not seen a demonstration of the iPad prior to Apple's media event.
 
Hehe told all the naysayers that it WASN'T part of a CONTROLLED LEAK. It made NO SENSE for that CEO to give confirmation of the existence of Apple's Tablet. Other companies don't step on partners toes like this buffoon did. If you can't play ball and keep your mouth shut, be prepared for some consequences.

Also I was right about iPad. :)

2 for 2!
 
weezer160 said:
I think that as the most powerful man of the tech industry, I'm pretty sure nobody can really say what he should and shouldn't do.
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That's exactly the problem. Even people like Jobs should have people around them that tell them when they're being foolish. Otherwise, groupthink sets in and you start thinking you can do no wrong.

With all the BS Jony Ive and company were spouting yesterday, I suspect that some form of groupthink has already set in. I hope they check sites like this one every now and again for some 'perspective' :p
 
Frazzle said:
That's exactly the problem. Even people like Jobs should have people around them that tell them when they're being foolish. Otherwise, groupthink sets in and you start thinking you can do no wrong.

With all the BS Jony Ive and company were spouting yesterday, I suspect that some form of groupthink has already set in. I hope they check sites like this one every now and again for some 'perspective' :p
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iCal'd for future claim chowder.
 
I think it's more likely that McGraw hill was never invited to attend the event because they probably weren't bowing down to apple's demands... so in light of losing coverage at the event... the McGraw hill guy probably just said.. screw it , whatever, im letting the cat outa the bag.
 
Winni said:
And who do Apple think they are? Right, they are a complete nobody in the publishing business, neither do they have a book store that can compete with Amazon. There's a difference between selling music and selling (electronic) books, and Amazon is more than ten years ahead of them there.

Heck, Apple does not even have a device that's really an eBook reader -- this iPad is just a huge iPod Touch.
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I think it's funny that this guy comes on the forum to do nothing but complain. Get a girlfriend dude. :rolleyes:
 
RHutch said:
So it seems that they may not be the largest K-12 publisher and maybe only the third largest college publisher. I guess they could still be the largest overall, but I don't think so.
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Technically, I'm not sure. Though I did find this page on the web:

The Outlook For Textbook Publishers
(albeit from a 2002 conversation with a McGraw-Hill exec) where I found the following quote, referring to McGraw-Hill:

"The world's largest educational publisher, its sales exceed $3 billion, about a third of which is accounted for by textbook sales." (see Appendix B in the linked article)

Regardless, my point stands about Apple still needing APPS more than the apps need Apple, at this point anyway. If Apple has learned ANYTHING from its early Mac vs. PC days, it's that the coolest device in the world is NOTHING without the killer apps.
 
tdream said:
Hehe told all the naysayers that it WASN'T part of a CONTROLLED LEAK. It made NO SENSE for that CEO to give confirmation of the existence of Apple's Tablet. Other companies don't step on partners toes like this buffoon did. If you can't play ball and keep your mouth shut, be prepared for some consequences.

Also I was right about iPad. :)

2 for 2!
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I wish people would quit using the phrase controlled leak
 
BryanLyle said:
I hope this is true. If these companies want to play with Apple, they need to understand the rules. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT :)
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Is it just me or is anyone else picturing Steve Jobs in a big black chair stroking a white cat chuckling with an evil tone? Shame on that blabber mouth
 
Strange how many fanboys said it was a controlled leak with some stupid theories.

Biggest reason to hide products is not because of hype but simply the fact of protecting from the competition. Everybody is trying to create an "iPhone-killer". Imagine if the competition knew about the device in the beginning?
 
"never in a position to confirm details about the device ahead of time"

exactly.

but you did anyway. good work.
 
I agree

I agree the guy was a jerk for announcing the iPad before the release. Yes we all knew, kinda from RUMOUR sites! Apple have worked many years on this thing and it looks like an exciting start to a previously ambiguous arena.

To be clear, if this guy came around to my house on xmas Eve, peeped inside my kids presents then told them what was inside I would be extremly annoyed!
Yes your kids write to Santa asking him for X present, they probably know they will get the gift, but telling everyone ruins the MAGIC.
 
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