Official: Apple Education Event on for January 19th in NYC! (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Rumors were true on this one, but earlier than expected! http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/01/11/apple-announces-special-event-in-new-york-on-jan-19/

Apple on Wednesday sent out an invitation to The Loop and other media outlets to attend a special event being held in New York City next week. Apple says the event will be about an education announcement and will take place on January 19 at the Guggenheim Museum. The event begins at 10:00 am ET and The Loop will have live coverage.

 

[Sam Posten]

Speculation, but GOOD speculation., http://www.macworld.com/article/164772/2012/01/forecasting_next_weeks_apple_education_event.html

 

[Sam Posten]

Most of the speculation was right on. What nobody planned for was for Apple to unearth a program aimed a t high schoolers paying for their own books. That's going to upset a lot of parents who rightly assumed that their kids would continue to get school paid books for their entire school career. Will be interesting to see how it shakes out: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/apple-announces-ibooks-2-to-reinvent-textbooks.ars Official pages: http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/gallery.html http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/

 

[Sam Posten]

Ugh:

"If you wish to sell your [iBooks Author-made] book, you must do so through the iBookstore." http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5071

Not unexpected but very very sucky... It's one thing to lock apps to an ecosystem, to lock media to it REALLY blows tho.... Although:

How can I distribute my work? You can publish your book to the iTunes Bookstore; you must choose to sell your book or offer it as a free download. You can also export your book from iBooks Author as a PDF, text, or iBooks document for you to distribute outside the iBookstore.

Considering leasing and potential upcoming price drops: http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/19/2718701/apple-ibooks2-textbooks-hardware-questions Dumbest headline of the day: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/tech/mobile/apple-ibooks-2/index.html

 

[mattCR]

Very sucky. And, frankly, I don't know how the exclusivity function will fly - and some places may contest that point on legal grounds.

Many state schools offer state funding programs which help pay for things like books, etc. But the concept of "exclusive agreement" for publication significantly messes with the way that state resources that help fund those programs go. And return of funding for work product published by a university may need to be reviewed as well; IE, a professor publishing a book from a university is good for the university, true. But having it as a required text wherein they pocket the revenue stream may not be something the university - or the state - wants to get involved in.


I'm very interested in how this all plays out. I think digital texts are the future, but I think there are a lot of complicated issues here that aren't addressed.

 

[mattCR]

Holy cow, another big factor may be the mb weight of these things:

Apple just got done unveiling its new iBooks 2 platform, letting us in on its plan to revamp education (in part) through its fancy new e-textbooks. These digital volumes look beautiful and come at a relatively meager monetary cost ($14.99), but a quick perusal of the textbooks available in iTunes reveals they'll take a sizable chunk of your iPad's memory. The current lineup of eight texts range in size from 800MB to 2.77GB, so folks looking to grab a full semester's worth of materials may have to carry an extra iPad or three to get the job done. Not an ideal solution, but a few Apple slates are still easier to schlep across campus than those massive texts you're used to, right?

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-2-e-textbooks-pack-tons-of-info-take-up-tons-of/#disqus_thread


2.77Gb a book? Is apple planning to roll out a 128Gb iPad3?

 

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Ugh:

"If you wish to sell your [iBooks Author-made] book, you must do so through the iBookstore." http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5071

Not unexpected but very very sucky...
It's one thing to lock apps to an ecosystem, to lock media to it REALLY blows tho....
Although:

How can I distribute my work?
You can publish your book to the iTunes Bookstore; you must choose to sell your book or offer it as a free download. You can also export your book from iBooks Author as a PDF, text, or iBooks document for you to distribute outside the iBookstore.

Yeah, in a perfect world Apple would release this amazing book creation software, for free, and make it compatible with all of its competitors platforms. I hope you recognize why that world doesn't exist.


The above linked Apple Support doc clearly states you can distribute outside the iBookstore. Probably someone will write a utility converting the .iBook format to ePub.


As for distribution through the iBookstore, please find me a publisher/store that will let you keep 70% of each *retail* sale. This is a GREAT deal for authors -- indeed an absolutely unprecedented one.

Originally Posted by mattCR [url=/t/317626/official-apple-education-event-on-for-january-19th-in-nyc#post_3889132]
Holy cow, another big factor may be the mb weight of these things:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-2-e-textbooks-pack-tons-of-info-take-up-tons-of/#disqus_thread

2.77Gb a book? Is apple planning to roll out a 128Gb iPad3?

Hopefully they are -- although even at 20 textbooks per year (highly unlikely) a 64GB iPad will suffice.

 

[Sam Posten]

If Textbooks are all you are running on it. Interesting thoughts on ting: http://allthingsd.com/20120119/apples-new-math-or-why-a-15-ebook-equals-a-75-paper-book/he pric

 

[Sam Posten]

You can distribute free copies but not paid ones. You are prohibted from selling your iBooks or PDFs on your own website for example, which seems hard to police. Hands on with Author, http://siliconfilter.com/hands-on-with-ibooks-author-ebook-authoring-made-easy-not-just-for-textbooks/

 

[Sam Posten]

The naysayer: http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/ipads-and-digital-textbooks-do-not-belong-in-classrooms-yet/ The recap: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ibooks-textbooks-commentary/ Watch the video yourself: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1201oihbafvpihboijhpihbasdouhbasv/event/index.html

 

[Steve_Tk]

A good way for kids to convince their parents they NEED and iPad for school, of course. Like the time I convinced my parents to get me a Queen size bed in college because my twin bed didn't have enough room to study, when in fact i didn't have enough room to sleep with girlfriend in the twin bed. Parents are so gullible when it comes to the needs of studying

 

[KeithAP]

I think there is real value in kids reading, especially in their younger years. Interactive textbooks will not help, and in fact, will probably hurt kids reading habits. The "educators" will love it of course because it means spending a lot more money. Business wise, it should be great for Apple.


-Keith

 

[Steve_Tk]

I've seen many studies that get kids more involved in learning activities when they are on tablet devices, rather than looking at a book. Agreed, should be good for Apple. Now they need to get to releasing iPhone 5 info!

 

[Raul Marquez]

Sam, What the techcrunch author doesn't seem to realize is that the current education system simply DOES NOT WORK! It's outdated, with TONS of jaded bureaucrats hampering education at every level just to cover their asses. My son is a 16 year old 11th grade high school student and I can see firsthand how difficult today's educational environment is. It's just like the healthcare field of which I'm a part of (as a surgeon). We used to be a great nation in terms of healthcare and education, but now we are at the bottom of the 30 top industrial nations in the world. It's time to open up our minds to new solutions, and at least Apple is trying to help (and if they get to increase their profits in the process.... more power to them --- at least they are doing something beyond complaining). If RAF (Robert A. Fowkes) were alive today I believe he would have been thrilled by today's Apple event. As someone I knew used to say..... "DON'T BRING ME THE PROBLEMS.... BRING ME THE SOLUTIONS !" Respectfully stepping down from my soapbox, Raul

 

[mattCR]

Just my thoughts:


Limiting it so you can only sell through there, and not your website or on your own is a bad deal; it also limits formats, etc. This is, IMHO, no good.


In regards to the claim "find me somewhere else that lets you keep 70% of the revenue" In this one, single instance.. that is a problem in and of itself. Many of these book publishers (specifically texts) receive compensatory funding from states and they receive special tax incentives, etc. So, let's say you say "well, it's all apple ipad, and now the author keeps 70%" Wait.. the author isn't the one who should be getting 70%. In the case of a university, many universities have clauses that dictate some of that needs to flow to them; in the case of a compiled book, like a general studies text, some of that funding is underwritten by a co-op to manage the research/etc.

Suddenly saying "we're going direct" is like telling Universities and states to go jump in a lake with the tax revenue they've pumped in I'm not sure how they will feel about that.


I admit, I'm someone who kept almost every one of my college texts. I sold a few, but a large number I kept. I can't imagine keeping six years worth of texts in an iPad or in any format.. it's not like a class has "one" text; several classes I was in, especially historical and literary, had numerous.


It's the direction this is going, but having some sort of sell-through and content delivery exclusivity seems like a very bad deal for the taxpayers who invested in the development and support of the university profs/etc. who are providing.

 

[KeithAP]

Originally Posted by Steve_Tk

I've seen many studies that get kids more involved in learning activities when they are on tablet devices, rather than looking at a book.

I have seen those as well. However, they do not look at the bigger picture, at least the ones I have seen. They focus on the short term, immediate benefit. Yes students learn quicker but how does that affect the student in the long run in areas such as attention span and the ability concentrate.


The other issue is the environment of how these studies were conducted, on students that started reading in a more traditional environment. The only real meaningful way to conduct such a study would be to eliminate, or nearly so, non-interactive reading from a child's learning experience right from the start and then collect data on the long term effects of such an environment.

It is possible that we might start creating generations of adults with attention spans of a gnat that can't concentrate for more than 60 seconds. There has already been some work indicating the negative affect on attention span/ability to concentrate on people that read a lot on the web with stories that have links, animated ads, etc.


Hopefully, these concerns will turn out to be fales. Either way, I guess we are going to find out.


-Keith

 

[Sam Posten]

Unprecedented audacity: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/01/2012/the-unprecedented-audacity-and-stupidity-of-the-ibooks-author-license/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThePassiveVoice+%28The+Passive+Voice%29 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/apples-mind-bogglingly-greedy-and-evil-license-agreement/4360 http://mattgemmell.com/2012/01/19/ibooks-author-for-authors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mattgemmell%2Frss2+%28Matt+Legend+Gemmell+-+RSS2%29 Ars Overview: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/educators-hope-apples-textbook-foray-will-begin-a-learning-revolution.ars I'm all for solutions to the problem, don't forget I have been a University Professor and have been on the front lines on their war against allowing technology in the classroom (dumb!). But you can't sell your soul to Apple in the process and still respect your industry if you are an author.... Hell your books can't even go on an iPhone, iMac or even an iPad running an older version of iBooks!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Entire Stream of today's event here


Thank You, Sam Posten, for maintaining this thread

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by mattCR

Holy cow, another big factor may be the mb weight of these things:



http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/apples-ibooks-2-e-textbooks-pack-tons-of-info-take-up-tons-of/#disqus_thread


2.77Gb a book? Is apple planning to roll out a 128Gb iPad3?

Thinking about the graphics, charts, and potential video features for a classic physics text like Halliday & Resnick's [url=http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-Extended-David-Halliday/dp/0471758019]Fundamentals of Physics, I can imagine a digital form being quite large. But is this a problem? I don't think so. An engineering student would need maybe five books a semester? Even if they all max out at 2.77 GB, that's 13 GB total, so a student's books would all fit on an entry model iPad. Get the 32 GB iPad and there's room for Angry Birds between classes.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Matt, I certainly see that in many cases the 70% will have to split up between various people, companies, institutions, etc. -- but that isn't Apple's problem, and again the 70% is the best deal going. You sure won't get a better deal from Amazon. Before Apple got in the game Amazon was offering a 70-30 split going the other way -- they kept the 70% for Kindle publications.


Another thing to keep in mind is, the smaller fry you are the better this deal is -- free tools, no upfront costs, a very fair split. It is only the biggest of the big fish who can hope to end up with more than 70% by distributing on their own.