Apple’s recent announcement that they are entering the digital textbook market should not be too surprising to anyone who’s been following recent trends in education technology.
Along with Amazon’s Kindle Fire and a couple other e-readers, the iPad is particularly well-suited to displaying textbook-like content. And considering that the hardware is bound to get better and better over time (and available at lower price points), things are looking up for digital textbook publishers.
While sales of electronic textbooks accounted for only 2.8% of the $8 billion textbook market in 20101, there are quite a few companies poised to take advantage of that emerging (albeit slowly) market, including CourseSmart, Kno, and Flat World Knowledge.
Products from these firms are already being used in many pilot programs around the nation. Any why not? The advantages are obvious. Compared to traditional textbooks, digital books:
- Take up little space, the hardware for storing them isn’t heavy or bulky
- Are regularly updated by the publisher (with no need to repurchase)
- Make searching for specific words or topics much easier
- Are often cheaper per unit than their paper and ink counterparts
- Allow for a more interactive and engaging experience for students
With that said, digital textbooks are by no means a panacea. Tablet devices are still too expensive for the kind of broad adoption that physical books have enjoyed for hundreds of years. Although the cost of such a device may be recovered in the long run by savings on books, the high cost of the initial investment is nevertheless quite a deterrent.
Furthermore, Apple has faced criticism over the last couple of days regarding a passage in the license agreement for iBooks post_title (the application that helps you create digital textbooks). The fine print reads:
If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.
In other words, Apple says it wants a cut of whatever money a textbook author might make from selling their work. This clause has even provoked derision from some of the most die-hard Apple fans.
In any case, Apple’s move into the digital textbook space will bring with it a lot of publicity, even for other players in the market. So the bottom line here is this: as e-reader devices get cheaper, it will be harder and harder to turn a blind eye to the myriad advantages offered to those who “go digital.”
- Forrester Research