The education marketplace is beginning to get pretty
crowded with tech companies. Amazon, Apple, and Google have all staked claims,
and now semiconductor chip-maker Intel is making its move with the acquisition
of e-textbook provider Kno.
John Galvin, vice president of sales and marketing at
Intel, confirmed the purchase on the Intel blog. According to Galvin, the purchase “provides administrators and teachers with the tools they need to easily
assign, manage, and monitor their digital learning content and assessments.”
Or it could suggest that Kno has failed. The company was unable to make its tablet work and Om Malik reported in GigaOm that Kno also has tried to work with CourseSmart to keep its content platform
viable.
“Industry sources tell us that Kno cut deals with
publishers that limited its take to about 15% of gross revenues,” Malik wrote.
“At the same time, it wasn’t able to get the volumes necessary to grow its
business—it was in competition for dollars from older ways of doing things:
buying textbooks, both new and old and, of course, the newer trend of renting
books from the likes of Chegg.”
The purchase makes sense for Intel because it provides
content to go along with the package of tools developed by Intel Education. The
bundle of hardware, software, and content that is already available for iOS,
Android, and Windows operating systems, puts Intel in a position to compete in
the education market, according to an article in Sci-Tech Today.
Besides, Kno has worked with Intel on textbook
initiatives in China and listed Intel Capital as one of its investors.
“It became more attractive to me to have them be part
of the portfolio rather than just a partner,” Galvin told TechCrunch.
