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Comments     Threshold


RE: Reinvent?
By quiksilvr on 1/19/2012 1:48:34 PM , Rating: 1
1) My point was that this was nothing new, and iBooks came out after Kindle store.
2) Kindle had an electronic textbook store for months. They even have textbook rental:
3) Apple isn't doing anything different and just offering HIGH SCHOOL textbooks that most schools provide for free anyways.

RE: Reinvent?
By tayb on 1/19/2012 2:26:21 PM , Rating: 3
Did you even read the article or anything about this feature before coming on here to toot the Android horn and bash Apple? I would be willing to bet you read a paragraph, at most, of the article and did ZERO background research before coming to a conclusion.

1. A store that sells books would not be something new. Apple already has a book store and a Kindle app. This application is not just a book store.
2. Both companies have had textbook stores. This is NOT just a textbook store.
3. High school textbooks are not free and they are not routinely available in a digital or interactive format. Do you think publishing companies simply give books away to high schools? No, you pay taxes of some sort and that funds the books.

RE: Reinvent?


RE: Reinvent?

RE: Reinvent?
By aliasfox on 1/19/2012 2:30:37 PM , Rating: 2
Kindle had books before Apple had iBooks, no arguments there, but the difference with iBooks 2 is that Apple isn't just trying to give you paper books on a screen. If all you have is (essentially) scanned pages from a book, then you're right - the ebook version offers no benefit over the state-provided free copy.

iBooks 2 is trying to update that paradigm with much more interaction, such as embedded videos and objects that can be manipulated, as well as quizes that can be taken directly within the application.

Note taking functionality is included in the form of taking in-text highlights and putting them in separate notes, as well as creation of flash cards like many people often do in real life.

Keynote presentations (Apple's version of PPT) can be embedded in textbooks, allowing for lazier teachers to have stock presentations ready to share with the class - not that I'm a huge fan of that, a teacher should be able to add context and engage the class, not regurgitate what the student's supposed to read... but I digress.

It's designed more as an end-to-end solution rather than just a 'book replacement' tool. Whether or not it's successful/useful remains to be seen. If this were merely sales of books (which Apple/Amazon/B&N already do), I doubt Apple would've dedicated an entire hour to talking about it.

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