IPad gets textbooks

Squid.

Active member
If this is true, I would definitely buy one for textbooks alone. IMO, e-textbooks would be the only wow-worthy featurehttp://www.macrumors.com/2010/02/02/textbook-publishers-strike-deals-to-bring-content-to-ipad/

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that major textbook publishers have struck deals with Apple to bring their content to the iPad. According to the report, textbook publishers will rely on the technology of ScrollMotion, which already has experience developing such content for the iPhone.Though Apple didn't outline its strategy to target the educational sector with its iPad last week, people familiar with Apple's thinking have said that the iPad's use in schools was one of the focal points of discussions in developing the product. In its exploration of electronic book technology, it thought particularly about how it could re-invent textbooks, these people said.Rumors of talks between Apple and textbook publishers prior to the iPad's launch sparked interest in the offerings, and they gained additional publicity when McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw appeared to tip Apple's hand regarding the iPad the day before its official introduction. Apple chose not to discuss McGraw-Hill's offerings or any other e-textbook offerings at the media event, leading to conflicting claims about whether McGraw-Hill had been tossed from the event at the last minute over its CEO's comments.

Today's report notes that McGraw-Hill Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson Education, and Kaplan have all reached deals with Apple for the iPad.
 
then you can be like this nerd

flash_video_placeholder.png
 
idk about you guys but I hate carrying heavy ass textbooks all over campus and I hate spending $200+ on them. It looks like the nook and kindle don't have the selection that the iPad will.
 
So you'd rather carry a bunch of textbooks around than a oversized ipod touch?
I spent $600 on my textbooks for this semester, so if they sell e-textbooks for 50-75 each, an ipad would pay for itself before I graduate
 
I easily spend the cost of an iPad on textbooks each year. With 4 or 5 textbooks to buy for each of 4 modules per year, plus 10-12 books out of the library each week, this would be so convenient if it had a goo range of textbooks on it.

Since it's shit in all other areas, Apple would do well to focus on this market.
 
I agree this is the thing that got me exited for the ipad.
I have 5 heavy ass textbooks. It would be so dope to just toss the ipad in my bag and go. The only thing I hope you could do would be add bookmarks, make notes and highlight shit. This is something that would help so many kids who don't want to mess up their books so they can resell them.
This leads me to my next point. I hope the books are significantly cheaper. If you think about it every time you buy a new textbook you know you can get 30%-40% back by reselling it after. So hopefully we could see around that amount cheaper by buying them online.
As for battery life, most of the time I do not look at my textbooks for more than 8 hours a day. Also most of the time when I am studying I am near a power source anyways. so I do not think it would be an issue.
I just wish apple would not shut down the stylus idea because being able to make notes on this thing would be so dope.
 
I read that the company that is digitizing the textbooks is gonna make them really interactive. They are predicting videos, quizzes, the ability to record lectures, and yes, a highlight feature.http://www.pcworld.com/article/188427/interactive_textbooks_headed_to_ipad_report_says.html
Also, the e-textbooks should be way cheaper. Think of the amount of work that goes into printing thousands of 500+ page textbooks, compared to highlighting the ebook, ctrl + c, ctrl + v, boom two copies. Obviously we won't be able to do that, but for the publishing companies, etextbooks will save them quite a it of money, hopefully translating to savings for us.
 
Yup, just like the old Macbook pro battery "lasts" 5 hours and the absolute max I can get on my new battery is 3 hrs with brightness all the way down, wifi and bluetooth off
 
Back
Top