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Textbook publishers dream of the tablet

by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jan 5th 2010 at 11:00AM

One of the things Apple should do to achieve runaway success with the tablet is incorporate textbooks. The folks at Coursesmart, a joint venture of five publishers that sells college textbooks as ebooks, have produced a video demonstrating how it could work.*

In the video, the user flips through available textbooks, makes a selection and begins reading. He also makes notes, views video of a lecture, adds an event to his calendar and searches the web for additional info, all while sipping a coffee. It's a neat idea, and just one of a slew of concepts that have recently surfaced.

But why textbooks? There are several reasons. First, college students are young and tech-savvy. They're also light on the finances often times, and ebooks are cheaper than their paper counterparts. Also, they could connect to iTunes U to find the books they need and lighten the load of heavy backpacks.

As for the publishers, this type of distribution would eliminate the school's resale of used books, which was a benefit for the students but did nothing for them. If the latest rumor is true, we only have a few more weeks to wait.

*Note that the video is entirely Coursesmart's imagining and not based on an actual product from Apple ... real or otherwise.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Tags:
coursesmart, ebooks, rumors, tablet, textbooks