“And now it seems universities are recognizing the potential as well,” Goldman reports. “One of the latest schools to offer a course in app development is the University of Minnesota, courtesy of professor Dr. Charles Miller.”
Goldman reports, “I interviewed Dr. Miller via email over the last few days, and his answers offer a telling glimpse into the enormous excitement and momentum Apple’s App Store is generating, how other platforms are almost being ignored, and the sticky ownership issues colleges are facing when it comes to finished apps developed by students at schools.”
Full article here.
Education is the where we have our biggest deficit and where Apple has the biggest inroads. It has always been a huge Steve Jobs focus and iPad will probably revolutionize all educational institutions, learning / teaching methods and conventions.
Parents and schools will be buying iPads in multiples…
Textbooks are doomed.
There is vast potential in the iPad, but I don’t think textbooks are doomed.
Steve Jobs is the anti-Gutenberg (I mean that in the positive sense). Or, we are just entering the Post-Gutenberg Area.
Textbooks, as we know them, ARE doomed. Electronic textbooks offer so many advantages that it is an undeniable conclusion that they will take the place of print. And I think it will happen quickly.
I am surprised that the iBook app does not offer highlighting and annotation capabilities. At least they were not demo’d. These capabilities would be prized, especially for all the non-fiction books.
This year’s Mobile World Congress features “an event within an event.” to wit:
“a unique opportunity to explore the many dimensions of the dynamic and critically important mobile applications market. With all the key players together in one place at one time, we will make App Planet the new Centre of the Apps Universe for the four days.”
“Key players,” not including the player who defined and refined the concept, and who sells 99.4% of all mobile apps.
@ChrissyOne:
More like banished in some states. Think Oklahoma, or Arizona… for starters
Just now recovering from all the flames hurled at me on the Amazon site when I asked if the $499 entry-level iPad just MIGHT be more of a bargain than the $489 Kindle DX. Whew! Those folks are hostile AND scared to death!
That said, I have tried to physically manage reading Stephen King’s “Under The Dome” for well over a month now . . . and just can’t do it. The book weighs a ton, it’s half a foot thick, and is just plain “unholdable” in bed or even on a lawn chair for any length of time.
The point of this anecdote? I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE iPAD TO BE RELEASED! I’ll pay the $14.99 for the book (again) in e-form, and take up right where I left off!
And THEN, if I’d like to see a movie, or listen to some music, or browse the web, or email a friend, or set up a spread sheet, or play a game between chapters, I CAN! (And only for $10. Huh. What a deal.)
Good luck, Kindle DX. You’re gonna need it.
Tom, “There is vast potential in the iPad, but I don’t think textbooks are doomed.”
But they should be, along with new bricks & mortar libraries.
Planet of the Apps.
You are paying the School to teach you. The school is NOT paying you to develop an app.
The app belongs to the student.
@ron
It’s obvious that you never enjoyed the Bodlean library.
“@ron
It’s obvious that you never enjoyed the Bodlean library.
I did, in my home town of Oxford. I DID write – ‘new libraries’.
@ Ron
I think most books will be digital from now on, but we will cherish the great printed books, they’re works of art (like paintings) and we will still produce a number of those for special purposes and enjoyment. Photography didn’t cause painting to disappear.
@Randian: That’s exactly the complaint my MIL has about many current books; they’re too big and hefty for her to read in bed. When I get my iPad, I plan to show it to both my parents-in-law; I can show the book feature, some of the casual games (MIL loves various types of solitare), and how MIL can use it to search on the Web while FIL is on the “other” computer. MIL just turned 78 while FIL will be 80 this summer (Dog willing); the iPad would make a great 2nd system for them.
Quote:
Carolyn Reidy, the CEO of Simon & Schuster, said the iPad seems like a “terrific device,” citing the clear screen and the ability to turn pages by touching a finger to the screen, as opposed to pushing a button, as the Kindle requires.
She said the fact that Apple already has 125 million customer credit card numbers through its iTunes store could add millions of potential book customers when the iPad goes on sale in two months
Electronic textbooks can be updated, literally, overnight.
Imagine how useful that could be.
Every 4 or 8 years the new administration can rewrite history and indoctrinate all of the growing, inquiring minds before the school year ends.
What bliss across the land.
Think of what a textbook is: A collection of information that explains the various facets of a topic, at increasing levels of breadth and sophistication as you progress through the book. Some where there is a best explanation of how to divide fractions. Once that is discovered, it’s available to every student who needs to master that skill via his iPad connected access to information. Textbooks used to package that skill, along with others and sell it as an “album” for Middle School Math. Now the teacher, curriculum committee or who ever can buy the best individual tracks, from the best source (artist?). Who needs the album, record producer, CD production plant… Oh, wait, I got off track.
Textbooks are dead.
@ thirdshoe
Ownership isn’t that simple. Just like a corporation, the university owns everything developed there or developed using its resources. If there’s significant money to be made, you can be darn sure the university will be first in line for a cut. And you can be sure their cut will be over 50%.
“Textbooks are dead.”
Before texts disappear, I hope we have an easy, elegant way to view three or more simultaneously to compare. When I’m working on a project, I often have at least six books open to the same material. I don’t think my wife will let me buy a dozen iPads…
It’s great! Now when you’re typing on your iPad in class, the teacher does not know whether you’re taking notes, or texting/chatting with your friends.
“Just like a corporation, the university owns everything developed there or developed using its resources. If there’s significant money to be made, you can be darn sure the university will be first in line for a cut. And you can be sure their cut will be over 50%.”
Unless explicitly stated in a contract signed by both parties beforehand, neither a corporation nor a university can presume to own any IP created using their facilities or resources. You make your assertion as if it were the default state. It’s not.
Paper-based books will go the way of the vinyl record – love by an increasing minority, but I expect libraries to expand.
Libraries will be a place where people help you to discover new things to read and research without the pain of repairing books, ordering, chasing up fines for returns, etc. The local library will be able to hold an Alexandrian-size collection for loaning.
To add to what effwerd said:
It’s only “their” resources if the flow of money initially is from “them” (university/corporation) to the developer, or if an employee relationship exists.
No rational court is going to find that a university, which I have to pay for their instruction and – here’s the key – use of their facilities, has any share of ownership in what I develop there. Essentially, I’m renting their facilities for my own benefit.
I would rather a book fall off my stomach and onto the floor as I roll over in bed; not my iPad. Not all books are the size of “Under The Dome.”