Apple and Amazon Take on the Textbook Publishing Industry
Heavy and expensive, the textbook is on a path toward obsolescence thanks to recent moves by Apple and Amazon. Apple recently announced iBooks 2, a platform that embraces interactive textbooks, and Amazon now offers textbooks in its Kindle Store (Kindle Education) as well as Kindle textbook rentals.
Apple iBooks 2
Apple has partnered with textbook publishers such as Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. On the day Apple announced iBooks 2, it made available several high school textbooks for $14.99 each. While parents appreciate the price break and look forward to reducing the load in students' backpacks, interactive elements such as video content and quizzes also add to the appeal of textbooks on the iPad.
Amazon Education and Kindle Textbook Rentals
Amazon's Kindle Store has a section dedicated to education with thousands of textbooks and reference books for the Kindle. Publishers include Pearson, Cengage, McGraw-Hill, and Wiley. Amazon's free membership program for students, Amazon Student, also includes book discounts and other benefits. In addition, Amazon offers Kindle textbook rentals for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new textbooks.
The iPad and Kindle are amazing devices that are about to transform the textbook publishing industry. Apple and Amazon have already made significant steps and it looks like textbook publishers are starting to respond.
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