Apple's Education Event: On the Road to Vendor Lock-in
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 19th Jan 2012 17:41 UTC
Apple Apple's education event just ended, and just as Ars Technica said, Apple announced better support for textbooks, as well as a textbook authoring tool. The textbook authoring tool is heavily inspired by Keynote and Pages, and hence, I already know it's going to be top-notch and very pleasant to use. In addition, the company also repositioned iTunes U as a Blackboard competitor. As great as all these new tools are, several large red flags went up in my mind: I remember what it was like being the only student who didn't use Windows. Update: "Any e-textbook author that wants access to the iPad-toting masses must make his or her work an exclusive to iBooks 2."
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RE: I sympathise but..
by karunko on Thu 19th Jan 2012 19:28 UTC in reply to "I sympathise but.."
karunko
Member since:
2008-10-28

At least this way we get Apple's excellent design and ease of use

So it's okay to get screwed as long as is Apple doing it? Okay, then... but do I get to choose if it's going to be Tim, Phil, Scott or maybe Johnathan? ;-)

Plus the iBook Author app opens content creation to the many.

Yes, but Apple wants the usual 30% plus exclusive rights to let you board the iTrain. How very altruistic!

So I understand the unease but the actual effects, certainly in the short to medium term, look very positive.

You are being sarcastic, right?


RT.

Reply Parent Score: 6

RE[2]: I sympathise but..
by Tony Swash on Fri 20th Jan 2012 20:17 in reply to "RE: I sympathise but.."
Tony Swash Member since:
2009-08-22

Yes, but Apple wants the usual 30% plus exclusive rights to let you board the iTrain. How very altruistic!


That means the content creators get 70% which is more than they get now. Sell a book through a publisher will give you a cut of 15% of sales price at best.

If this is a bum deal then people won't create stuff for it. It isn't and they will.

So I understand the unease but the actual effects, certainly in the short to medium term, look very positive.

You are being sarcastic, right? .


No. This looks like it has the potential to transform a big chunk of the tools available to educators and student for the better. That is a good thing. Nobody else has tried this total approach before and nobody other than Apple probably could.

Have a play with the free content creation software iBook Author. Its fantastic. The great thing is you can not only create a book for distribution on iTunes but you can also distribute them any way you choose (as long as it's for free and not via another rival store).

I may make books just to give to friends and family. Imagine what you could do with your photos or movies, or family histories with this sort of stuff. Imagine if you put on a play or cultural event and creating a beautiful electronic event program available in iTunes or by download. Imagine making a book for someone getting married or graduating or retiring. Really this is an exciting new way to make ebooks.

Sure it encourages people to buy iPads - so what? Why else would any company do anything except because it supports their business model.

Reply Parent Score: 3

RE[3]: I sympathise but..
by karunko on Fri 20th Jan 2012 21:59 in reply to "RE[2]: I sympathise but.."
karunko Member since:
2008-10-28

"Yes, but Apple wants the usual 30% plus exclusive rights to let you board the iTrain. How very altruistic!

That means the content creators get 70% which is more than they get now. Sell a book through a publisher will give you a cut of 15% of sales price at best. "

Let's see: 15% of, say, $100.00 is $15.00, while 70% of $14.99 is... $10.43! Wow, where do I sign?

But, seriously: it could be argued that (certain) textbooks are too expensive, but I realize that a good textbook takes time, a lot of research and, usually, teamwork. In other words, I don't expect that stuff to come cheap and if it is, it probably means that shortcuts have been taken somewhere -- especially considering that the printing costs are only a fraction of the total cost.

Have a play with the free content creation software iBook Author. Its fantastic. The great thing is you can not only create a book for distribution on iTunes but you can also distribute them any way you choose (as long as it's for free and not via another rival store).

But you have to export it to a non proprietary format like PDF, loosing all the "cool" features and making it not that different from traditional media.


RT.

Reply Parent Score: 2

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