Hi everyone. On the eve of Apple's education announcement, thought it might be interesting to see if anyone had any opinions on whether or not Apple's input will be able to lower the cost of electronic textbooks. The answer below is from Matt MacInnis, CEO and Founder of Inkling,
This is a tricky question, but the short answer is "no."
Digital textbooks, as imagined by most people, have no future. We won't replace textbooks with digital replicas of their print counterparts. That's akin to replacing a horse with a mechanic horse to improve transportation; we didn't need that at the turn of the century. Rather, we needed the car. And it had nothing to do with horses.
Likewise, what replaces the textbook as a method of helping us learn will be far more sophisticated and powerful than a replica of a print book. After all, the very best device for book content is, arguably, a book!
The problem of textbook cost is driven by the inefficiency of the textbook market. In higher education, where most people complain about textbook costs, the issue is twofold. First, the professor who assigns the book sets the demand but has no direct experience with the cost. The student pays, so there's little incentive to lower the price. Second, and more importantly, the demand is fixed at the number of students to whom the book was assigned. So lowering the price wouldn't stimulate more demand; that's why textbooks are so expensive.
Apple cannot change this market dynamic single-handedly, but because digital textbooks, as replicas of print books, will likely not materialize as a market force, the question may not be the right one to ask. Instead, we might ask, will Apple provide technology that replaces both traditional textbooks AND e-textbooks with something more effective than either?
(Maybe!)
