“After Apple’s big education presentation yesterday, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw chatted with a gaggle of reporters, and explained things like the logic behind $15 digital textbooks,” Peter Kafka reports for AllThingsD.
” I’m particularly struck by his homage to Steve Jobs, and about his insistence that traditional textbook publishers can move into the digital era without losing control of their industry,” Kafka reports. “Terry McGraw [said], ‘Sitting and listening to all of this, I wish Steve Jobs was here. I was with him in June this past year, and we were talking about some of the benchmarks, and some of the things that we were trying to do together. He should be here. He probably is [gesturing up and around]. This was his vision, this was his idea, and it all had to do with the iPad… Steve Jobs and Apple, have done more, in terms of creating this personalized learning platform than anyone.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
A good time to see Steve Job’s 1995 interview..
in it he voices his concerns on education
Whaaaa? You mean MORE than even Barak Hussein Obama? Nawwwww.
Even more than you probably.
(some people ought to not worry about others and concentrate on themselves)
True dat
I agree completely, and so I will now go mind my own business.
This whole iBook Authoring debate and whining about being Mac only, and the publishing restrictions, and iBooks not available on Macs or other platforms is missing Apple’s strategy. There is a reason why they introduced this with textbooks. With the major textbook publishers on board and already producing iBook textbooks, that are usable only on the iPad Apple has put in place a huge bridge in place for a standardization of the iPad as THE textbook replacement for thousands of schools and millions on students. They just given away the razor so they sell blades for decades to come. Apple doesn’t give a rat’s ass if Joe Blow doesn’t use iBooks Authoring to write his auto repair manual. I don’t blame them. Schools, Textbooks and Students is a never ending revenue stream. If they pull it off, this is huge.
Correct.
Agreed!
And don’t forget about Microsoft’s stronghold- corporate america. They do PLENTY of training! They’re going to need a sh!tload of Macs and iPads to support their learning resource areas! :))
Why would the publishers agree to digital textbooks if they cost only $15? Can someone answer this? Wouldn’t they rather charge hundreds?
Physical textbooks may last five of more re-uses, whereas iBooks are purchased every unit, every year.
5 x $15 ≈ $100 – (printing & distribution costs)
because the current ‘cost hundreds’ price model comes with huge costs (paper, distribution, inventory) and uncertainties (local customization to accomodate revisionist text book boards, etc).
…and in some cases reinventing (or toning down) US History.
Apple is in the business to make money……this iBook, text book project is a great marketing tool to get the young kids in schools to understand and feel comfortable with Apple products. If they used an iPad in school and felt a connection to it……well when it comes to buying that cell phone in the future. That kid is going to reach for an iPhone. Apple is doing pre-conditioning marketing. Hold the product, interact with product, and later on buy the product or associated items related to the product. It’s pure genius and very forward thinking to shore up your future customer base that will know how to use your product.