Rumored upcoming Apple announcements in the media arena, possibly books

Kindle's uber-portability to every platform imaginable and it's ability to "buy once, have attached to an account" is a monumental advantage.

I do picture school text books moving to one of these formats.   But the iPad doesn't seem like a great choice.  Our rate of attrition on iPads here is about 1 or 2 a month, and that's out of a few hundred project managers.. people who know how to keep track of things - but stuff happens.   Tasking out iPads to HS kids is waiting for them to be destroyed.   You'd think if Schools were going to do that - and I think they are - the first approach would be a cheaper E-ink option, where the discount in bulk would be significant enough to get it down to the price of a text book run for a kid ($130 or less) making it a great option.  But at $400... the attrition rate would weigh down the longterm benefit

When I read this my first instinct was college and university, not high school and younger. I think this would be a great option at the post secondary level.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattCR 
  Tasking out iPads to HS kids is waiting for them to be destroyed.   You'd think if Schools were going to do that - and I think they are - the first approach would be a cheaper E-ink option, where the discount in bulk would be significant enough to get it down to the price of a text book run for a kid ($130 or less) making it a great option.  But at $400... the attrition rate would weigh down the longterm benefit

E-Ink replacing large format textbooks with tons of color photos/graphics/illustrations would be an absurd step backwards.  Meanwhile a properly designed iPad textbook would include video, interactivity, etc.  It is no contest.  I don't think the Kindle (or the 7" Fire) has a leg to stand on in this contest.

And schools have been letting students use laptops for years -- how are they in any way less vulnerable then the no-moving-parts iPad? Yes stuff breaks.  By kids, by adults -- we would all still be using pencil and paper if that was the main concern.  And I don't know about high school, but the cost of a year's worth of college reading material can easily rival that of an iPad. But should an iPad break or be stollen, there is no need for the textbooks to be repurchased.