Apple’s event in New York showed that the iPad could eventually make paper textbooks an endangered species. And that’s just the way that former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs wanted it to be.

In his biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson wrote about how Jobs met with media magnate Rupert Murdoch to talk about education. The books says, “Jobs agreed with Murdoch that the paper textbook business would be blown away by digital learning materials.”

“In fact, Jobs had set his sights on textbooks as the next business he wanted to transform. He believed it was an $8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction. He was also struck by the fact that many schools, for security reasons, don’t have lockers, so kids have to lug a heavy backpack around.”

The book quotes Jobs as saying, “The iPad would solve that.” His idea was to hire great textbook writers to create digital versions and make them a feature of the iPad.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/19/digital-... /


I wrote about this a while ago, it's now in its infancy. I am glad I was here to see it happen.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...
Jan-30-10


I realize now the importance of converting from paper media to digital; it's not just the MASSIVE reduction in use of natural resources for entertainment and education (unfortunately it will affect thousands of jobs in the long term that rely on the production of paper for our reading materials). It will make available books that now cost THOUSANDS to college students, and far more to public school districts for a fraction of the cost, with the added benefit of eliminating the massive backpacks (along with the related injuries) that burden students Nationwide. There is a Kindle beta download now available for PCs (it works GREAT) which helped me realize the importance of these devices. Being partially blind, he advent of digital reading media is ideal for me by allowing me to adjust the text size I am comfortable with on the screen size of my choice.

Hopefully, textbook and professional publishers will embrace the technology straight away. Eliminating gazillions of DVDs will be beneficial too. The possibilities are endless. The current generation is just scratching the surface. And as we improve solid state drive technology, the storage will only increase and get greater at far less cost.

And yes, for those who enjoy turning the pages, putting dog ears, Post-it-notes and comments in the margins, maybe this technology isn't for you. But the future is inevitable. Just like vinyl records, the books we now own will last for generations. Just a thought or two. I know it isn't about Mel Gibson or Tiger Woods or the SOTU, but just a thought.