Amazon Kindle and Textbooks

The industry is buzzing about the possible debut of a large screen Kindle this week. Sources such as Computerworld and All Things Digital are reporting that Amazon has scheduled a press event for Wednesday at Pace University in New York City to announce the launch of the new device. At this point, the exact intentions for the large screen Kindle are somewhat unclear. The New York Times says that the device will be “tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks” while The Wall Street Journal says it was “designed to appeal to periodical and academic textbook publishers.” The WSJ article goes on to say that Amazon has worked out agreements with several textbook publishers as well as six universities that will participate in a Kindle pilot beginning this fall. The universities include: Case Western Reserve University, Pace, Princeton, Reed, Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State. In an article out on Engadget, we see that the new Kindle device, to be named the Kindle DX, will have a 9.7” display. The site has several pictures of the device expected to be announced tomorrow.

Many sources are also speculating about how this device could affect the publishing industry and if it could really help save struggling newspapers and magazines. An article from Computerworld points out that while publishers could benefit from the ability to charge for subscriptions, it is unclear how a subscription model will succeed when content is available for free via the internet. The Silicon Alley Insider adds, “no matter how big the Kindle screen is, electronic subscriptions are not going to save the likes of the New York Times.” Additionally, due to the black and white screen, the device can really only display newspapers and some periodicals because replicating any glossy magazine would require a color screen. In terms of educational material, coursepacks and some textbooks may display reasonably well but the majority of textbooks require color for illustrations and diagrams. It is questionable if students will really be willing to purchase a black and white device such as this. A posting on Thad Mcilroy’s blog comments, “who really believes that students are going to carry into their classes a notebook computer (or smaller) that allows them to surf the web, Twitter, provide online messaging, save their personal files and photos and a hundred other features — a device which they already own — and then purchase an additional black & white only device, albeit with a web browser, and be thankful they can leave books at home and read them instead on a device clearly inferior to their notebook or netbook (which can easily display the same material)?” It will be interesting to see what the large screen Kindle is intended for and the agreements that have been worked out. A posting on ZDNet uses NACS data to talk about how this is more about textbooks than newspapers or magazines. However, regardless of the exact intentions, it looks as though Amazon will be among the first to release a large screen device targeted to academic purposes, anyone willing to take bets on the impact to college stores over the next two academic years?

Bookshare partners with publishers and universities to make more books available to students with disabilities

Last week, Bookshare, a nonprofit company that makes books available to people with visual disabilities announced that they will be partnering with leading U.S. trade publishers, K-12 publishers, and 11 universities to make more books available to students. Contributions from publishers will include digital trade and textbooks, while the universities will provide access to the books that they scanned and formatted for students. Universities are able to scan the books because of an exemption to the U.S. copyright law which makes it legal for books to be scanned for those that have print disabilities. In the past, many scanning efforts have been duplicated across universities but with the new partnership all of the scanned and digital books will be available for access via the Bookshare online library. Bookshare will also handle the conversion of the digital files into accessible formats such as DAISY 3.0 (Digital Accessible Information System) and BRF (Braille Ready File). Bookshare’s library collection currently includes over 46,000 titles and is expected to increase to over 100,000 books by 2012.

In regards to working with the publishers to obtain the digital version of the books, Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, the nonprofit organization that operates Bookshare commented, “Digital media is the future for learners and individuals with print disabilities. Fewer than five percent of books are available in accessible formats today. Working directly with book publishers, we have an extraordinary opportunity to knock down the barriers and raise the floor of access to ensure all individuals have access to print publications at the same time.”

How do you spend your commute?

For two years, Peter Brett, a novelist from Brooklyn spent his daily commute to NYC writing a novel. However, he wasn’t writing the book on paper or even typing it on his computer; he wrote the book on his smartphone. An article from Daily News says that Brett wrote over 100,000 words for his 400 page novel while on the subway. His novel was released last year in Poland and England where it hit best seller lists and just last month it was released in U.S. Brett has stopped commuting to pursue writing full time but comments that his word per minute count was higher when he was typing on his smartphone.

E-readers in the news

There were some new developments in the e-reader space this week. Here are few of the stories:

New e-paper competitor – Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have created a new display that looks more like actual paper. The display is much brighter than the current E INK technology because it reflects 55% of ambient light as compared to 35-40%. The researchers say that the technology could eventually reflect more than 60%, making the display almost as bright as white paper. The researchers have developed partnerships with other companies and will soon begin commercializing the technology.

Braille e-book reader – Although it is likely still a concept at this point, four designers have created a Braille e-book reader that would use electromagnetic signals to change the surface pattern of the device to simulate Braille text. The technology to create the device is already available so we could see this device in the near future.

BeBook e-reader – A smaller, cheaper version of the original BeBook e-reader will soon launch in Europe. The reader has an E Ink display and runs on the Linux operating system but it does not offer wireless capability. There is no word yet if the reader will launch in the U.S.

Sony to do away with proprietary format in UK - At the London Book Fair, Richard Palk, Sony’s new business content and services manager announced that they will move away from their propriety format in favor of ePub in the UK. Palk commented, “ePub has become the de facto UK consumers' format of choice." He also added that Reader and ebook sales have exceeded expectations, "We see demand for ebooks and digital readers growing in the UK. It's clear that a reading revolution is beginning." There is no word yet, if a similar decision will occur for the US market.

Disrupting Class

Several months ago we had a blog posting that mentioned the book “Disrupting Class” by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, and Curtis Johnson. There was another story on the piece in eSchool News this week. The thrust of the story in eSchool News is a perfect descriptor for the forces facing college stores today with digital textbooks. It contains exactly the messages I have been trying to send to stores over the past few years, and especially the past several months. The current issue is only available to subscribers online at the moment, but the article is worth getting the free access. (BTW – eSchoolNews is often a good source of information on educational technology. Here are some extended excerpts from the article to encourage you to read more, and to read the book:

Disruptive innovation is the business idea that every so often a new innovation comes along that completely changes the marketplace, knocking the old market leaders from their perch and giving rise to new ones. […] Because they take advantage of these radical innovations, new entrants to the marketplace are essentially competing against “non-consumption” while the innovation continues to improve. Once the new innovation has matured, these companies are in a great position to compete with the established market leaders, and therefore they nearly always win.

They then use the story of Digital Equipment Corp and perceptions of how they thrived and then suddenly failed due to management practices that were once seen as sound, but later seen as poor. The article comments:

“How can smart people suddenly get so stupid?” Christensen asked. His answer: It wasn’t management’s fault; it was disruptive innovation. […] The early PCS weren’t very good, which is typical of the first wave of products to take advantage of any innovation. And as all good companies do, Digital listened to its customers, who were saying this very thing. As a result, Digital decided it wasn’t worth changing its business model. In effect, the company’s managers had to choose between making good products with a high profit margin, using a well-established business model; or scrapping that model – an extremely risky move – and making flawed products with a much smaller profit margin. Of course, sound business management practices said they should choose the first option … and the rest, as they say, is history.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? E-textbooks? E-readers? The future of the college store??? Hello, McFly? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

Finally, he talks about the innovation S-curve – one of my favorite concepts in innovation:

Whenever a disruptive innovation occurs, the pattern in which the new model replaces the old one follows an S-curve that can be calculated mathematically. At first, as suppliers of a new innovation work out its flaws, adoption is fairly flat. But then, as the innovation improves to the point where it’s widely accessible and delivers a satisfactory experience, adoption spikes rapidly. This mathematical model has proven to be remarkably consistent throughout history.

And to paraphrase or reword in our context: if that historical patterns holds true, then the latest disruptive innovation affecting college stores – digital course materials – is set to take off dramatically.

The article is a good read, and the book an even better one. Disrupting class also has a blog with some provocative ideas. It should be a must-read for stores.

Google Book Search settlement delayed

On Tuesday, the Google Book Search settlement was postponed for four months to give authors more time to decide whether to participate in the settlement or opt out. The deadline to opt out is now September 4, 2009 and the final hearing will be on October 7, 2009. According to an article on CNET, the four month extension appears to have been in direct response to a request from a group of authors and not in response to Google’s request for a 60-day extension to ensure that rightholders are given enough time to respond. Gabriel Stricker, a spokesperson for Google commented, “We're excited about the proposed settlement agreement regarding Google Book Search. As we've said previously, the settlement is highly detailed, and we want to make sure rightsholders everywhere have enough time to think about it and make sure it's right for them.” Although Google was in favor of a delay, the postponement may actually benefit the parties opposed to the settlement. John Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog, commented, “The four-month extension is a big victory for those who oppose the Google Books settlement. It's a clear recognition by the judge that there are problems with the proposed deal. The extension also gives the Justice Department more time to consider the antitrust issues that we and others have raised and discussed with them." As mentioned previously, if the settlement is approved, Google could gain exclusive rights to the orphan books held in university libraries which would easily affect every community and stakeholder in our industry.

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has also posted a video and a summary of the Copyright, Content and Class Action Lawsuits: A Debate on the Google Book Search Settlement event held last week at the Library of Congress. Participants in the panel included: Dr. Alan Inouye, Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Information Poicy; Dr. Daniel Clancy, Engineering Director for Google Book Search; Allan Adler, VP of Government Affairs for the Association of American Publishers; and Peter Brantley, Director of Access for the Internet Archive.

E-textbook study in the UK finds that bundling print and digital increases textbook sales

Recently, John Smith & Son, an academic and professional bookseller in the UK, conducted an e-textbook study with multiple sales models for e-textbooks including: bundling print and digital, discounted e-textbooks, point of sale add-on, and full-price e-textbooks. According to an article from Book Business, the results showed that bundling e-textbooks with the print version was the most successful model and sales increased by 25 percent. Additionally, when digital textbooks were available, used textbook sales decreased considerably with some sales decreasing as much as 68 percent. John Smith & Son anticipates that their e-textbook program will continue to grow as publishers recognize the opportunity to drive revenue growth with digital content. Already, the company has increased their e-textbook sales over 20 times last year’s units.

Apple hits its one billionth app download in just nine months

Apple's countdown to the one billionth app download ended last week when a lucky winner downloaded the “Bump” app. If you have not heard of “Bump” yet, it is a pretty cool free app that lets users swap contact information by bumping two phones together. Appropriately, the winner was a thirteen year-old and just this week there is a new research report out that indicates that teens have been cutting back spending in many areas due to the economy but one area that has been less affected – digital products. An article from Advertising Age notes, “Teens are not willing to live without things such as music, DVDs, video games, and video-game systems.” As teens become more and more immersed in digital in and out of the classroom and Apple begins the count to its two billionth download, we must consider how these factors will affect our industry in the future.

Amazon: top source for e-books and e-commerce

On Monday afternoon, Lexcycle, creator of the popular Stanza book reading application for the iPhone, announced that they have been acquired by Amazon. A posting on their website says that they are not planning to make any changes to the Stanza application and customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from their content partners. It goes on to say, “We are excited to join forces with a company that has innovated on behalf of readers for over a decade and is a pioneer in ebooks. Like Amazon, we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead for ebooks and we could not think of a better company to join during this exciting time.” This acquisition is definitely a bit surprising and has the industry talking. An article from Business Week questions the move given that the Kindle app currently ranks higher than the Stanza app in the Apple iTunes store. The article explains that it could be that Amazon did not want Stanza to be purchased by a competitor or Amazon may be interested in adding some of Stanza’s features to the Kindle app. Another posting from PCWorld notes that Amazon was likely interested in Stanza’s ability to export PDFs, Word documents, and other eBooks which can then be placed on the Kindle. While a posting on the Bits blog indicates that the move will help Amazon strengthen its position on mobile devices, particularly Apple devices but potentially Google Android phones, the Palm Pre, and Windows Mobile devices. Many of the sources are also wondering if Amazon will eventually support more e-reading formats and in particular ePub. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out but one thing is for sure, Amazon now owns two of the top reading apps for the iPhone.

In addition to acquiring Lexcycle, it was recently reported by Barron’s that Amazon could be responsible for about one third of all U.S. e-commerce. RBC Capital analyst Stephen Ju performed the analysis and his data suggests that U.S. e-commerce through Amazon was about 34% in Q4, up from 27% a year earlier. Ju’s analysis concluded that Amazon is continuing to gain share in the U.S. and there is opportunity for further gains in international online retailing. A posting, from the Amazon blog on Seattle P-I notes that the lack of online sales tax in most states could be a large factor for Amazon’s growth in sales during a recession.

CACS E-Book Performance Survey

The following posting is courtesy of Kathleen Kaser, Director North for the California Association of College Stores (CACS). We were very happy to learn that Kathleen recently led an informal performance survey for CACS regarding the availability and demand for e-books by higher education students in California. More about the survey and the results can be found below.

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CACS conducted an informal survey regarding the availability of E-books offered by higher education institutions and the demand for E-books by higher education students in California for the spring semester or winter quarter of 2009. It was compiled for Don Newton, who as CACS legislative liaison was asked for the information by Senator Elaine Alquist who sponsors SB 48 which “will be mandating that publishers provide both a print & full electronic version of a textbook along the following timeline; 50% of textbooks must have a full electronic version by 2015 and 100% by 2020."

The general comments are based on responses from seven California Universities and twenty Community Colleges. Universities responding were: SDSU, CSU Fresno, CSU Fullerton, UC Riverside, UC Davis, UCLA, and Cal Poly. Community Colleges responding were: Los Medanos, Ohlone, Santa Barbara, Fresno CC, Citrus, LATT, San Diego (3), Solano, San Mateo (3), Cabrillo, Foothill, Fullerton, Chaffey, Modesto, Coastline, and Chabot.

Respondents were asked three questions:
- How many E-books do you have available to sell (generally) this semester?
- How many are you selling?
- What is the student response to E-books?

Three of the seven Universities surveyed offer approximately two hundred titles, and two offer a hundred titles this term. One University offers nine titles this term, but usually has thirty. One University offers none citing no student requests. Sales results are mixed with SDSU reporting sales of a thousand E-books this term, CSU Fullerton and Cal Poly sold about two hundred, Fresno State sold thirty five, and UC Davis and UCLA sold less than ten.

Eight of the twenty Community Colleges surveyed offer more than twenty titles with no one offering more than sixty five titles. Two colleges offer ten titles this term, two colleges offer one title, and the remaining eight colleges offer none. Top sellers for E-books this term were SDCC and Coastline who each sold one hundred and fifty, Foothill sold seventy five, Chabot sold forty three, Chaffey sold twenty, Santa Barbara sold nine, with the remaining ten colleges reporting no sales.

Positive bookstore comments about E-books:
- 70% of students surveyed at a University would buy another E-book.
- 33% of students surveyed at different University would buy an E-book again, and 25% thought the E-book was better quality than the textbook.
- Demand is increasing as the supply increases.
- Students are satisfied and demand is growing.
- It is important to offer students many choices of course content.

Negative bookstore comments about E-books:
- Half of all the bookstores surveyed experience indifference to Ebooks or no demand yet from students or faculty, even if they offer E-books for sale.
- Cannot sell E-books due to district firewall connectivity problems.
- E-book prices may be too high. Students know that buying a used book and selling it back to the store at the end of the semester is less expensive than buying an E-book.
- There are some problems with downloads and refunds, but the technology is improving.
- Publisher representatives do not push E-books.
- Logistically carrying around a laptop instead of a book is cumbersome, and it is expensive to print out the book.
- Students and faculty are more interested in free, Open Educational Resources than E-books. (Comment from only one of the respondents.)

The sources of the E-books offered were Jumpbooks, MBS Universal Digital Titles, CourseSmart, and Follett. It does appear that the E-book market is a fledgling industry and that demand is increasing as the supply increases for students comfortable with technology. Fewer titles are available for Community Colleges at this time.

Don Newton added the following comments to the E-book survey results sent to Senator Alquist: “I think your goal of 50% availability by 2015 is certainly doable. However publishers are mostly moved by marketplace acceptance. Much work needs to be done to make electronic titles popular enough to warrant the investment required for publishers to make more electronic titles available.”

“The investment needed to make electronic books available is not in getting content in an electronic file. The problem is with securing the intellectual property from piracy and maintaining that security. In addition, as some of our comments show, publishers will need to make it more convenient and more reliable.”

“If publishers need to oppose your bill it will probably be for customer lack of demand, not for their inability or unwillingness to have the product in e-formats. In a few years we will see what direction customer demand leads e-book publishing availability. I am sure publishers will be speaking with you about this. Thanks for your time and please remember CACS members are ready to help with any information we have.”

Many thanks to all who responded so quickly to my request for information.

Initial results from the JISC national e-books observatory project

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) national e-books observatory project in the UK began in 2007 and since then the committee has been working to explore the impacts, observe the behaviors, and develop new models to stimulate the e-book market. Earlier this month, the JISC released the results of their first user survey which was circulated to 127 higher education libraries and included more than 20,000 responses. The portions of the survey of particular significance to college stores include: the interest level for e-books and e-book purchasing intentions. The results of the survey show that there is a high level of interest in e-books with more than 60% of the academic population already using e-books. When reviewing the results by gender, age group, and level of study, men and postgraduates were more likely to use e-books and there was no significant difference among age groups. However, when it comes to purchasing e-books, students purchasing intentions are low. Only 4.6% of students actually paid for the book, while 45.3% got it from the university library, and 43.5% accessed it free off the internet.

Last week at the London Book Fair, the JISC discussed the initial results from their observatory project which provided UK university students with free access to 36 science, technology, and medical e-textbooks for two years. The results of the study show that giving students access to the e-texts did not have an effect on print sales and e-textbook usage was strong across all age groups. The study also revealed the current challenges with e-books including: students and administrators dislike for DRM restrictions and their dissatisfaction with the current purchasing model for e-books. The full report will be released in June and the results will be shared with participating publishers and academic institutions in an effort to help the market develop, and to help target the current pricing and licensing issues for e-books.

E Ink technology update

An interesting posting on Joe Wikert’s Kindleville blog discusses his recent visit to the E Ink office. Wikert reports that the company is making progress on color displays and that he actually saw a prototype with slightly washed out color but excellent clarity. He also saw displays that support animation and several displays with sharper renderings of text and graphics. While these displays will not be available for some time, the technology is progressing.

KnowledgeWorks 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning

The KnowledgeWorks Foundation’s second future forecast entitled 2020 Forecast: Creating the Future of Learning is now available. The forecast explores the key forces of change that will influence the next decade and the actions that we can take today to shape the future of learning. The forecast is designed to help users make connections among things that may seem unrelated and to help them understand how challenges occurring today fit within the larger context of patterns of change. KnowledgeWorks first forecast entitled 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education is still relevant but includes trends that have evolved in recent years. The new forecast is organized into six future forces and within each force there are signals, trends, and ways to take action. Some of the relevant trends for college stores include: transliteracy, eco-schools, open leadership and sociability, visual literacy, and open-source assessment. Additionally, the website features scenario planning information that you may find useful. The information is intended to help users: make use of the forecast in their own educational organization, spark conversation about future challenges, and to build support for change.

E-book and E-reader predictions

Recently there have been several noteworthy predictions and comments about e-books and e-readers that all indicate the tipping point from print to digital is approaching.

In an article from this month’s Fast Company, Steve Haber, developer of the Sony Reader said, “E-book readers will largely dominate the industry, and it could happen in less than 10 years. Every time I give a Reader to someone to test, I never get it back. It's just like when TiVo or digital cameras came out. At first, people didn't know they needed it. But once they have it, they can't live without it.”

Richard Doherty, an analyst from the Envisioneering Group expressed a similar thought in a New York Times article a few months ago when he said, “I have not interviewed any owner of an ebook device who says that I should not have bought the thing.”

Steve Pendergrast, co-founder of Fictionwise, recently predicted that by 2010 there will be a “huge surge in e-book sales” and the “tipping point” of e-book popularity will occur as consumers see more users reading e-books on planes and subways. He added that Fictionwise’s typical customer has transitioned from men to women providing “evidence that e-book sales have shifted away from the early-adopter stage” and that e-books will become more widely accepted on the mass consumer level as technology improves.

Pendergrast’s prediction is in line with the comments by Russ Wilcox, president and CEO of E Ink, at the Tools of Change Conference in February. Wilcox said, “In 12-18 months, 2-3% of American households will own e-readers.” This prediction is significant because it is at that point that everyone will know someone who owns an e-reader which will lead to the tipping point. As we begin to see more sources with corroborative data, it provides better evidence that we are in fact nearing the tipping point for e-books and e-readers.

Book Industry Environmental Council announces goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions

For the first time, the book industry has set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This week the Book Industry Environmental Council announced that they are aiming for a 20% reduction by 2020 and an 80% reduction by 2050. A posting from Publishers Weekly reports that paper accounts for 65% of the U.S. book industry’s carbon footprint and returns are another significant factor. If the industry can reduce emissions by 20%, it would save up to 2.5 million metric tons a year which is the equivalent of the annual emissions of roughly 450,000 cars. Pete Datos, chair of the Council’s climate subcommittee commented, “I have confidence we can reduce returns dramatically. We have to work together to do that in a way that is equitable for the whole industry. We have better methods to forecast, we can get books printed and shipped faster than ever before.” The announcement did not discuss e-books but we can expect that digital options will also play an important role in the industry’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Wall Street Journal e-book article

Today’s Wall Street Journal features a great article entitled, How the E-Book Will Change the Way we Read and Write. In the article, author Steven Johnson discusses the “aha” moment when he realized that the book's transition to digital will change the way we read, write, and sell books in profound ways, and what the future of books and reading will look like as a result of these changes. Johnson also provides a prediction for the future, noting that as a result of developments such as the Kindle and Google Book Search, “2009 may well prove to be the most significant year in the evolution of the book since Gutenberg hammered out his original bible.” The article is very well written and worth a read.

Espresso Book Machine pilot in the U.S. and first installation in the U.K.

A recent article announced that the U.K.’s leading academic bookseller, Blackwell, will be the first bookstore in the U.K. to install an Espresso Book Machine (EBM) 2.0. The EBM 2.0 will allow the store to print and bind a 300-page paperback book with a four-color cover in about four minutes. Blackwell anticipates that the machine will help increase sales because they will be able to offer a larger variety of books and titles will no longer be out of stock. The machine could also attract new customers such as authors and self publishers who wish to have their works printed. Blackwell hopes to install more machines throughout its retail locations in the coming months.

In other news, there will be a significant number of EBM installations occurring in the U.S., as Lighting Source prepares to launch a pilot program that will let select publishers offer their titles on Espresso Book Machines located in bookstores across the country. Publishers participating in the pilot include: Simon& Schuster, Jon Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Macmillan, University of California Press, and Norton. It is expected that 85,000 titles will be available for printing when the pilot begins next month.

Fun writing game

If you’re in the mood for something fun, try out this Twitter inspired writing game that was recently featured on the The Digitalist blog. Enjoy!

Amazon Kindle 2 sales predictions

A recent posting on TechCrunch indicates that the Kindle 2 is likely selling at twice the rate of the first generation Kindle with about 300,000 units sold to date. The first generation Kindle sold about 400,000 units total and Amazon expects to sell about 800,000 Kindle 2’s in 2009. Some analysts predict that the sales could even reach over a million this year. As e-reader technology continues to improve and more books become available in digital form, we can expect that e-reader sales will continue to increase.

Collegiate Retail Alliance partners with CourseSmart

Earlier this week, the Collegiate Retail Alliance (CRA), a coalition of 52 independent college stores, announced a partnership with CourseSmart that will integrate CourseSmart’s products and services into CRA’s VisualRATEX store management system. Users of the VisualRATEX system can now offer students 6,000 e-textbooks from 12 publishers. Students will be able to purchase the e-textbooks in the college store by picking up cards with access codes that will be placed near the printed version of the book. Once the access code has been authorized, students will be able to download the e-textbook to their desktop or access the book online via CourseSmart. Later this year, an eRATEX web store will also be available. Richard McDaniel, CRA President and Chairman, explained the initiative by saying, “As course materials shift to new platforms, the ability to offer students texts in electronic as well as print formats is essential.”

Apple approaching 1 billion iPhone app downloads

The Apple app store debuted just 9 months ago and already nearly 1 billion apps have been downloaded. The number of downloads has actually doubled since January when the count was at 500 million. A counter to track the downloads has been added to the iTunes webpage and it is moving quickly with over 34 million apps downloaded since last Friday. As mentioned in a previous posting, in recent months we have seen an increase in the number of reading, learning, campus related, and social networking apps and given these new statistics, we can expect to see many more in the coming months. Additionally, an interesting chart on the Mobclix website features a breakdown of the number of apps in each of the 20 app categories. Books and Education apps are in the top 5 with 4842 applications (13.6%) and 2313 applications (6.5%) respectively. Apple has also released a listing of the top 20 of all time PAID apps and the top 20 FREE apps. Although Books and Education apps are not featured in the top 20, two of the top free apps include social networking sites Facebook and Myspace. With the popularity of the app store increasing everyday and rumors of a large screen Apple device due out later this year, we anticipate that Apple could make a considerable impact in the higher education market in the coming months.

Is Amazon working on a large screen Kindle?

An article from The Wall Street Journal indicates that a new large screen Kindle could be released just in time for the holidays this year. Amazon has not confirmed the rumor but some insiders say they have seen a version of the device. Whether or not the rumor is true, there are likely several large screen e-readers in development. Jennifer Colegrove, the director of display technology research at DisplaySearch confirmed that suppliers for several e-readers have been working on screens that measure 10 inches diagonally and she estimates that the world-wide market for e-readers will triple in 2009 to three million, up from one million in 2008. (Note: that is better than exponential growth).

As mentioned previously, there is also speculation that Apple is working on a large screen device that could be released this fall. If these rumors are true, then both companies and perhaps others could become viable competitors in the textbook market later this year. This is just another sign that the e-book space is starting to heat up and that we may be passing the “knee of the curve” when it comes to e-books.

Scholarly presses benefit from digital publishing

An interesting article by Scott McLemee on Inside Higher Ed discusses the recent move towards digital publishing and some of the advantages that it has provided for scholarly presses. The article begins with a telling quote from an observer of trends in the industry that reads, “We’re going to see a 15 year leap in the publishing industry in the next two years.” Interestingly enough, that comment was made last summer when the economy was in better shape and “before trillions of dollars starting vanishing into the ether.” The piece goes on to discuss an article written by Sandy Thatcher, director of Penn State University Press and past president of the Association of American University Presses entitled “The Hidden Digital Revolution in Scholarly Publishing: POD, SRDP, the ‘Long Tail,’ and Open Access.” In the article, Thatcher discusses how the small market for scholarly titles has actually given university presses an advantage because they have been able to experiment with and benefit from short-run digital publishing and print-on-demand while others in the industry are continually trying to reduce their costs through economies of scale. Additionally, university presses have been able to publish more scholarly works and distribute them to a broader audience through digital publishing. In the coming months, we can expect to see more acceptance of and experimentation with digital options as the industry struggles to find a more profitable business model during these tough economic times.

New color e-reader to hit the market early next year

A recent posting on the iReader blog features a new color e-reader that is expected to hit the market in Q1 2010. The e-reader is being developed by the companies Netronix and Astak and known as the Netronix EB900 or Astak Mentor Pro. The E Ink screens will be provided by Prime View International (PVI), the maker of the E Ink Kindle screens. The e-reader comes with some impressive features including, a large 9.7” touch screen with either 26k color or 16 shades of gray-scale, the choice of Linux or Windows CE, WiFi Bluetooth/3G wireless connection, 4GB memory, SD Card slot, two USB 2.0 ports, and it supports a variety of languages such as English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese. According to Netronix’s website the company plans to release five other e-readers this year that are all 5 or 6 inch devices with different capabilities/options on each.

Even children’s books are becoming iPhone apps

Last week, Houghton Mifflin and ScrollMotion released Curious George’s Dictionary as an iPhone/iPod Touch application. An article from the Earth Times explains that the application is designed for children in preschool through first grade. David Langevin, vice president and director of Electronic Markets for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade & Reference Division explained, “ScrollMotion has done brilliant product development, combining elegant design and child-friendly functionality. We feel the world’s most curious monkey’s dictionary adventure will be the most popular educational app in the iTunes App Store.” This has us wondering; how many young children have their own iPhone/iPod Touch or are their parents handing over their pricey devices to keep the kids entertained? Either way, more and more children are participating in digital learning with technologies designed specifically for them. How will these factors affect the way children learn in the classroom?

January 2009 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for January 2009 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. Trade e-book sales were $8.8 million for January 2009, a very significant 173.6% increase over January 2008. Note that these figures represent the 13 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Is Barnes & Noble working on an e-reader too?

Rumor has it that Barnes & Noble is the latest company preparing to release an e-reader to compete with the Amazon Kindle. According to the jkOnTheRun blog, Barnes & Noble is one of the five companies that recently approached Verizon about providing wireless services to the e-reader. However, those talks may have ended and the company could be in discussions with Sprint and AT&T. This rumor could prove to be true because as mentioned in a previous posting, Barnes & Noble recently acquired e-book retailer Fictionwise with plans to incorporate the company into its digital strategy. Although Fictionwise’s e-book inventory is not as large as Amazon’s, they still have tens of thousands of e-books and they do offer non-DRM books when publishers allow, unlike Amazon.

Popular myths about e-books

An interesting posting on the Epublishers Weekly blog features 10 popular myths about e-books. The posting is worth a read and includes some interesting points to take note of:

Myth: E-books and electronic publishing are killing the print publishing industry
Truth: Print publishing is struggling for many reasons. The print publishers that survive will need to embrace electronic publishing, transform their business models, and renew the original vision of publishing, where books are published not for profit only, but to enrich and renew our culture.

Myth: Buying e-books instead of paper books does not really help the environment
Truth: E-books save trees, energy, transportation costs, and reduce pollution. To produce one weekly issue of the Sunday New York Times 75,000 trees are consumed. To produce one year’s worth of Sunday papers, more than 3.9 million trees are consumed.

Myth: E-books are not ready for prime time: the digital reading revolution is years away
Truth: E-books and electronic publishing are young but e-book sales will surpass 100 million dollars this year. (And this does not account for rapidly-increasing influx of "free culture" works: more than two million e-books and electronic publications that are available at no cost.) That 100 million dollars is still a small part of total print publishing sales. Yet e-books are by far the fastest growing segment of this otherwise-troubled industry.

Peter Osnos – The Future of Books

The Century Foundation recently featured interesting commentary by Peter Osnos. In the piece, Osnos discusses how print and digital books can easily co-exist in the future because print books will not necessarily disappear as digital progresses. While there are often comparisons drawn between the book and music industries, Osnos explains that he believes the book industry will follow a similar path to that of the movie industry. In the movie industry, consumers are provided with a variety of movie viewing options including: DVD’s, downloads, rentals, movie theaters, etc. As the industry evolved, new delivery options were added while still allowing previous options to exist and remain viable revenue streams. The book industry could evolve in a similar way by allowing a variety of print and digital options with their own pricing structures to co-exist. Customers will appreciate the ability to consume books in multiple ways and to choose among the options just as they can when they want to watch a movie. The digital options will likely become more popular in the coming years but there will always be times when consumers just prefer a printed book.

More news on Google Book Search

An article from The New York Times discusses the objections to the recent settlement proposal for Google Book Search. As you may recall, the Google Book Search initiative includes the scanning of millions of orphan books or those which are under copyright but out of print and the rights holders are unknown or can not be located. Many major libraries including university libraries contain large numbers of orphan books and Google could gain exclusive rights to publish the books online and profit from them if the settlement is approved in June. Some academic and public interest groups plan to file legal briefs for fear that Google could become a monopoly if the settlement is approved. Without orphan books, competitors will not be able to create a library as comprehensive as Google and therefore Google could potentially charge universities, libraries, and others high prices to access the database. Alexander Macgillivray, a lawyer for Google defends the company by saying that the goal is to make orphan works more widely accessible and the prices charged would be reasonable. He adds, “This agreement expands access to many of these hard-to-find books in a way that is great for Google, great for authors, great for publishers and great for readers.” But is it great for college stores and university libraries? Several of our members forwarded this article on to us noting that if the settlement is approved it could be a real game changer and easily affect every community and stakeholder in the industry. One member summed it by saying that Google has the potential to wipe out recommended title sales overnight which could further erode the market share college stores have in the book business.

More e-readers soon to be on the market

An article from Yahoo! Tech explains that Verizon Wireless has been approached by five companies to provide wireless connections to e-readers. The article does not confirm who the companies are but explains that Verizon is looking to enter parts of the e-book market that the Kindle is not currently in, more specifically, the college textbook market. This news provides further verification that the higher education textbook market is under a great deal of pressure to change. We can expect current players in the space and companies looking to enter our market to introduce e-readers designed specifically for textbooks within the year. What is not clear yet is what the business models will look like and if the companies will choose to work with us or against us.

What is all the twitter about?

With all the recent twitter about twittering we thought you might enjoy this comic from Being Five. Have a good weekend!

What we can learn from the decline of the newspaper industry

This week’s issue of The Chronicle features interesting commentary by Kevin Carey that discusses how technology could impose a similar threat on the higher education industry as it has on the newspaper industry. He explains that the industries are threatened by technology because they are both in the business of creating and communicating information and technology is making this easier than ever before. He goes on to say that what is happening now to the newspaper industry was actually predicted in the 1990’s when the internet was introduced so newspapers had time to prepare for the digital future but the temptation to cling to the old ways was too great. However, it is not too late for higher education, the industry still has more time to embrace technology, prepare for change, and move to a more sustainable cost structure. It would be a mistake to believe that accreditation will be enough to protect universities because with the economy in decline and tuition on the rise, the number of students taking online courses is growing by hundreds of thousands each year. If higher education decides to hold on to the past like the newspaper industry did, “then someday, sooner than we think, we're going to be reading about the demise of once-great universities — not in the newspaper, but in whatever comes next.”

Innovative Kiosks

There was an interesting article in the New York Times this week about new kiosks being developed by Intel that could eventually be placed in retail locations. The kiosks feature large touch screens with software that can identify customers, recall their purchase history, suggest specials or additional items to coordinate with their new purchases, and even let customers try out virtual clothing and cosmetics. The idea behind the kiosks is that it will provide customers with more product information as well as customer reviews, in other words, the information that they would see if they were purchasing online. Joe Jensen, general manager of the embedded-computing division at Intel explained the kiosks by saying, “The prototypes are a vehicle for showing the direction we see retailers needing to move.” As retail locations begin to change their models to provide an online shopping experience in store, how will consumer’s expectations change? Or perhaps more importantly, what will students come to expect when they shop in the college store?

iPhone applications - a growing trend

Blackboard, maker of campus learning management system software, is the latest company to announce that they have released an iPhone application. According to the press release, the new application provides a mobile version of the same tools used on their website in an effort to support learners on the go. Blackboard is just one of many companies to release an iPhone application this month. In fact, according to a recent article from San Jose Mercury News, there are currently about 200 new apps added each day to the Apple App Store and the store is growing at a rate of 38% a month. Additionally, the store already offers over 31,000 applications since its debut less than 9 months ago. At this rate, we can expect to see many more reading, campus related, learning, and social networking applications introduced in the coming months. These applications can be developed quickly and offer powerful new ways to connect users in ways that we have not seen before. What effect could these applications have on the way students learn and communicate, and in turn the college store? This is definitely a trend to watch, particularly with rumors of a new Apple device due out perhaps this summer or fall.

Shelf Awareness article about CAMEX

Today, Shelf Awareness featured a nice write-up about the efforts of NACS Media Solutions and Mark’s digital content presentation at CAMEX. The article provides good coverage of the presentation and is worth reading especially for those that could not attend however it incorrectly states a few statistics. It explains that “only 38.1% of college stores are selling digital materials” but this statistic is misleading because it only includes independent and private stores and does not represent the industry as a whole. If contract managed stores were added to the statistic, the number would be higher. Additionally, the article explains that at Taylor & Francis, “direct sales to consumers are at a 50/50 ratio of print to digital format.” This statistic actually represents several publishers and not just Taylor & Francis. A correction notice has been submitted to Shelf Awareness.

Barnes & Noble launches free e-reader application for the Blackberry

According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, Barnes & Noble has released a free e-reader application for the Blackberry. As noted in a previous posting, earlier this month, Barnes & Noble acquired Fictionwise, so the new e-reader is an extension of the Fictionwise e-reader application currently available for the iPhone and other mobile devices. The article explains that the decision was initiated by consumer demand and now Blackberry users will be able to access the 60,000 plus titles available on the Fictionwise eReader store. William Lynch, President of Barnes&Noble.com explained the launch, "E-books are a nascent market. We think users will engage with this. We want to be there with the right application and content regardless of the device."

Samsung to launch e-reader in June

A posting from the Wired blog reports that Samsung will launch a new e-reader called Papyrus this June in Korea. It is reported that the device is A5-sized with an E Ink touch screen and 512MB of memory but does not include a memory card option or WiFi capability. Samsung plans to eventually release the e-reader in the U.S. and the U.K. Additionally, the posting provides a great summary of the e-readers currently on the market or soon to be released.

University of Michigan Press goes digital

Earlier this week, the University of Michigan Press announced that they will be moving to digital format. According to an article from Inside Higher Ed, the majority of the monographs published will now be released in digital form but readers will have the option to use print-on-demand if they choose. This announcement differs from other recent news because the University’s decision was not based on a cost saving initiative and no jobs will be eliminated, the shift is purely to take advantage of the ability to publish more books and distribute them to a broader audience. Phil Pochoda, director of Michigan press explained. “I have been increasingly convinced that the business model based on printed monograph was not merely failing but broken. Why try to fight your way through this? Why try to remain in territory you know is doomed? Scholarly presses will be primarily digital in a decade. Why not seize the opportunity to do it now?” As we begin to see more scholarly presses transition to digital for distribution or cost saving purposes, college stores should also consider seizing the opportunity to provide digital content.

Thinking the Unthinkable

There is a great posting on Clay Shirky’s blog titled, “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” that provides an insightful analysis on the past, present, and future of the newspaper industry. All college stores, publishers, and book retailers should read this piece because as one of our members noted, one could easily substitute “textbooks” for “newspapers” in several places. In the posting, Mr. Shirky explains that the problem that the newspaper industry is facing is not due to lack of preparedness for the internet, in fact, in the 90’s, many plans were created to deal with the internet. The real problem is that all the plans were based on the idea that the newspaper just needed a “digital facelift.” He explains:

“Round and round this goes, with the people committed to saving newspapers demanding to know ‘If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?’ To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.

With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.”

Mr. Shirky goes on to say that nothing will really replace what we are losing with the demise of news on printed paper but through experimentation we can find a way to preserve journalism. “Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments, each of which will seem as minor at launch as Craigslist did, as Wikipedia did, as octavo volumes did.” It is in retrospect that these experiments are considered turning points.

Mr.Shirky’s advice can also be applied to the college store industry. As the old publishing models are broken, experimenting with digital initiatives on campus is imperative for defining the future. One experiment may not be the answer but a collection of experiments can help to preserve the important role of the college store on campus.

Clay Shirky's posting is a must read for all college stores.

Interesting digital content article

There is a very interesting article by Len Vlahos posted on the American Booksellers Association site that provides a great overview of the book industry’s history with digital content and the changes that have occurred in recent years as consumers have became more comfortable with digital content through the music industry. Additionally, the article discusses the factors contributing to the recent interest in digital content and the opportunities that lie ahead for the book industry. We encourage you to read the article for general knowledge and understanding.

GameFly partners with Barnes & Noble to test game rental kiosks in college stores

A recent article explains that Gamefly, an online video game rental service, has partnered with Barnes & Noble to test out game rental kiosks in college stores. The kiosks will provide students with the opportunity to rent hundreds of popular games for various gaming systems without a return date or late fees. The first kiosk was launched last Wednesday at the Texas Tech campus store and GameFly plans to install similar machines in stores across the country.

Fujitsu’s color display e-reader

A recent posting on CNET features a close-up look at the color E Ink display on Fujitsu’s e-reader. As mentioned in a prior posting, until recently the e-reader was only available for trial in a Tokyo restaurant but now it is available for pre-order and is scheduled to begin shipping on April 20 in Japan. There is no word yet on when the e-reader might be available for purchase in the U.S. Another posting on the Wired Blog explains that the device appears to be more like a hybrid of a tablet and e-reader because it comes with Window CE5 operating system which supports e-mail, web browsing, and spreadsheets among other functions. With capabilities such as these, the device becomes more than just a color e-reader and consumers may be more likely to purchase it. We look forward to hearing the reviews next month.


Update on 3/26/09:
Here is another recent story on the Fujitsu e-reader:
http://www.slashgear.com/fujitsu-flepia-color-e-book-hits-japan-next-month-1838035/

E-Book Cartoon

The Penny Arcade recently featured this funny cartoon about e-books. Enjoy!

Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper moves to digital version only

Earlier this week, there was another signal that the tipping point from print to digital is approaching. According to an article from the Associated Press, on Monday the Seattle P-I became the largest American newspaper to announce that it will move to an online version only and on Tuesday the newspaper produced the final paper edition after 146 years in print. This announcement follows the recent closing of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News and this Saturday’s scheduled closing of Arizona’s Tucson Citizen. The Seattle P-I’s move to digital will likely be closely watched as other newspapers seek to find a way to survive as the industry struggles. Additionally, this move could put additional pressure on the Seattle Times which had a joint operating agreement with the P-I and will be the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city. Steven Swartz, president of Hearst’s newspaper division explained the move to digital and the hope to capitalize on the P-I’s existing web traffic, “We clearly believe we are in a period of innovation and experimentation, and that’s what this new SeattlePI.com represents. We think we’ll learn a lot, and we think the Seattle market, being so digitally focused, is a great place to try this.” In recent months, other large newspaper companies have sought bankruptcy protection including the owners of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Google and Sony partner to take on Amazon

An article from Forbes explains that Google and Sony have announced that they will partner to make 500,000 of the public domain books from Google's Book Search scanning initiative available for free via the Sony eBook Store in EPUB format. This is interesting news because this is Google’s first move into the e-reader space and they have elected to go with Sony which uses open standard format over Amazon’s proprietary offerings. Until now, Google has only offered the scanned books via PDF format which does not display well on e-readers. With the EPUB files, the text will reflow and adapt to fit various screen sizes. Additionally, consumers do not even need to own a Sony Reader to benefit from this partnership because the files can be used on any device with EPUB software and even on Amazon Kindles with the proper conversion software. This move signifies a step forward for the adoption of the EPUB open format standard for e-book distribution and away from propriety formats which has hindered consumer adoption. In addition, according to another posting on Teleread, Google plans make the additional one million books in their library available in EPUB format as well.

Advice from Peter Osnos

Last week, Shelf Awareness featured a conversation with Peter Osnos, founder and editor-at-large of PublicAffairs and founder of The Caravan Project. In the piece, Osnos explains that he sees a bright future for the book world because as technology advances a book publishing model is developing that will make it possible for readers to buy books in any format they choose – traditional, e-books, print-on-demand, or audio, and he envisions that this could take place in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore. He does however, have concerns about booksellers who, "still have not yet accepted that digital delivery is a good thing and that it can be part of what they do. There isn't any reason any bookseller cannot completely embrace digital delivery." His advice for people in the industry is to "step back and think of themselves as civilians and appreciate the extent to which we always look for convenience and quality. It doesn't mean that 100% of people will read online and that the printed book is doomed. It means that there will be choices and options, and it's essential that publishers and booksellers be a part of that." Embracing digital delivery and recognizing the opportunities and options it provides is especially important advice for college stores. We do not have time to wait because if college stores do not provide content options in the formats that students desire, someone else will.

Future of the News

An interesting posting on the Wired Blog discusses how the New York Times is working to create a digital future for the news through research and development. Recently, Nick Bilton, design integration editor and user interface specialist at the New York Times R&D lab spoke about the efforts at the Emerging Technologies conference. We also had the opportunity to see him present about a month ago at the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference and were intrigued and impressed by the technologies in development. Some of the most interesting technologies include a prototype called "CustomTimes" which is a digital version of the traditional newspaper machine that will allow users to select certain content to be printed via print on demand, “smart content” which keeps track of the stories that users have read across their devices so that when a user picks up their mobile device a story that was read on their computer appears grayed out, and a Times mobile application that can sense when a user is traveling in their car and delivers the news in audio format. While these advanced technologies are likely five to ten years away, the transition to digital is inevitable for the newspaper industry, and as Bilton points out the newspapers and news organizations can still thrive in digital format, “Paper is dying, but it's just a device. Replacing it with pixels is a better experience.” What can other industries, such as course materials, learn from the shift to digital in the newspaper industry?

Video presentation by Richard Baraniuk founder of Connexions

As mentioned in previous postings, the video presentations on the TED website are a great resource for ideas and inspiration. The presentations are given by the world’s leading thinkers and doers at the TED conference each year. Richard Baraniuk founder of Connexions gave a presentation titled, “Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open source learning” that is worth watching. In the presentation, Mr. Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions and how through open source learning, ideas from the music industry can be used to reinvent the way books are written, used, and taught from. He explains that in the music industry anyone is free to create new music and use existing music in innovative ways which has created a community where things are kept constantly up-to-date. Connexions is similar to that of the music industry because it will “enable anyone in the world, to be their own educational DJ, creating education materials, sharing them with the world and constantly innovating them.” As we continue to see more interest in open content learning models, it is important to consider the effect that free educational content could have on college stores.

CAMEX 2009

CAMEX, one of NACS biggest events of the year and the industry’s largest trade show and educational event begins today. Some digital sessions to take note of include, Mark’s presentation this afternoon entitled NACS 2009 Digital Update: Moving Beyond Mousing Around. Mark will be discussing the many recent signals of change occurring in the industry and the choices that college stores are faced with as we prepare for the transition to digital.

On Saturday afternoon there will be a few other digital sessions. The session: Re-defining the Future of Your Health Science Store: Incorporating Digital Content will feature a panel of health science publishers and booksellers to discuss the types of digital content that students in the medical fields are using and how stores can incorporate digital content into selling strategies. Another session entitled Exploring E-books will discuss how some universities are piloting e-book initiatives on campus. The session will be given by college store managers and directors Jennifer Berry (BYU Bookstore), Todd Summer (San Diego State University Aztec Shops), and Jason Katzman (Colorado University Book Store) and will be a great opportunity to gain ideas for how to pilot e-books on your campus.

We look forward to seeing many of you at CAMEX!

DukeMobile and iStanford applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Last week, Duke University unveiled a suite of applications for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch called “DukeMobile.” According to an article from The Wired Campus, the applications allow users to browse the university’s catalog, search a campus map, and watch Duke related content on YouTube and iTunes. The application was created by Terriblyclever, a company started by Stanford students which recently produced an even more advanced and impressive suite of applications for Stanford University called “iStanford.” The “iStanford” applications are connected to the university’s core computer system which allows students to perform tasks that are normally only accessible over secure campus networks. Students can add and drop courses, find out the exact location of the campus shuttle, and review grades and course history. Additionally, students can use an interactive campus map to find out the locations of other students with iPhones and send them instant messages. For students that do not have an iPhone or iTouch, there is also a website designed for web-capable phones that offers campus services. A recent article in TIME explains that the applications have received great reviews and we are likely to see more universities invest in similar applications in the upcoming months.

Asymmetric Competition

Several months ago, Umair Haque, Director of Havas Media Lab and a blogger for Harvard Business School discussed an interesting concept known as asymmetrical competition on his blog. The concept can be applied to the competition occurring in the corporate world and has some specific relevance to college stores. Haque explains that in years past the majority of competition was symmetrical, meaning that companies typically competed with comparable resources and capabilities. Some examples of these competitors include Ford and General Motors. Today, the competition has become asymmetrical and new companies are emerging and rewriting the rules of strategy to displace the leaders of yesterday. Google is one example of a company that is doing exactly the opposite of what traditional strategy says and yet has become the world’s most powerful brand in record time. Hague explains that while new companies have always produced competition what we are seeing now is different. “First, rarely before have new and lateral entrants been able to upset incumbents so decisively - to actually put them out of commission. Second, rarely have they been able to dominate entire industries with such speed. Third, almost never before have so many revolutionaries threatened so many incumbents across a broad sweep of industries. Fourth, in asymmetrical contests, yesterday's sources of advantage become today's sources of disadvantage.” Asymmetric competition is happening across the corporate world and could soon impact college stores. In the last several months, we have seen new companies emerge and existing companies introduce new technologies and solutions for the higher education market. As new companies and technologies are introduced and acquisitions take place, it is hard to predict how quickly things could change for higher education. With radical environmental changes, the incumbents are rarely the victors. That does not mean they do not survive – they just end up with a lesser role to play – like candles compared to light bulbs. The higher education textbook market is under a great deal of pressure to change, and if we are not part of the change, forces of asymmetrical competition could replace us.

How e-readers and e-books could win mass appeal

An interesting article from TWICE explains that some analysts are predicting mass appeal of e-readers and e-books if the technology is adopted by schools. Josh Martin, Yankee Group Senior Analyst commented, “I’m not really bullish that this will be a mass-market product. But if schools adopt the devices, the market could take off.” For universities such as Northwest Missouri State that are piloting e-readers and e-textbooks this semester, there could be a gradual switch to the digital versions this fall. For schools that have yet to experience the technology, the shift to digital could take more time but as more schools begin offering digital options, we could see the transition gain speed. Stores must begin preparing for the transition to digital if or perhaps when e-readers and e-books gain mass appeal.

Read an E-Book Week: March 8-14

Sunday marked the start of Read and E-Book Week, a not-for-profit week designed to inform the public about the pleasures and advantages of reading electronically. Read an E-Book Week was founded in 2004 by author Rita Toews and has since gained many supporters including E-INK, Sony, Stanza, and IDPF among others. During the week, Stanza will be offering a catalog of free e-books for the iPhone and iPod Touch while many other publishers and authors have a variety of free e-book offerings. To show your support for e-books and to find out more about the week and its offerings, refer to the website’s E-Book Supporters page.

Fujitsu’s color display e-reader

A recent article from Fast Company features photos of the first color display e-reader produced by Fujitsu. The e-reader uses Fujitsu’s FLEPia technology and includes a slender design, large touch-screen, Wi-Fi capability, SD card slot for memory expansion, stereo speakers, a battery life of 50 hours, and Windows CE5 operating system. Currently the e-reader is only available for trial in a Tokyo restaurant. Patrons visiting the restaurant can test out the technology by browsing newspapers, train schedules, and weather reports.

University of Pennsylvania Libraries to make 200,000 titles available for on-demand digitization and printing

Another example of the recent increase in the number of libraries offering digitized collections appeared in a recent article from Campus Technology. The article explains that the University of Pennsylvania Libraries have partnered with Kirtas Technologies to make 200,000 public domain titles available for on-demand digitization and printing. This partnership differs from other efforts because the books will be digitized upon user request which will eliminate up-front printing, production, and storage costs and allow the university’s digital collection to grow based on demand. Customers that wish to participate in the offering will search for titles on the Kirtas site and then place a “digitize for me” request. The book will be pulled from the library shelves, digitized, and then either printed or made available for online access depending on the customer’s preference.

Barnes & Noble acquires Fictionwise

There has been some interesting news in the e-book world this week. Yesterday we heard about Amazon’s release of an e-book application for the iPhone and today we learned that Barnes & Noble has acquired Fictionwise, a leading independent eBook publisher and distributor. According to the press release, Fictionwise will operate as a separate business unit under Barnes & Noble and founders Steve and Scott Pendergast will continue to run the business. Barnes & Noble plans to incorporate Fictionwise into its digital strategy which includes the launch of an e-Bookstore later this year. A posting on Teleread explains that the founders shopped the site around to potential buyers and decided on Barnes & Noble because of their support for Fictionwise’s philosophy of “platform neutrality and eReader everywhere,” meaning that customers should still be able to buy non-DRM books from Fictionwise when available.

Hearst Corporation to introduce large screen e-reader

Last week, Hearst Corporation, owner of many popular daily and weekly newspapers as well as magazines, announced that it will launch a large screen e-reader designed to meet the needs of publishers in the declining market. According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, the e-reader initiative is part of the company’s “100 Days of Change” program which seeks to review the longstanding newspaper business practices to define a new cost structure and business model for the future. Another article in Fortune magazine explains that the e-reader is likely to debut later this year in black and white and may even be foldable. The company plans to sell the e-readers to publishers and take a share of the revenue acquired from selling magazines and newspapers on the devices. Additionally, publishers will be able to develop their own branding and payment methods. A third article from Information Week explains that Hearst’s move into the e-reader market is definitely risky but also necessary because even if Hearst is not successful in making money at first, the experiment could eventually lead to a solution to help boost subscriptions and revenues. Michael McGuire, analyst with Gartner’s media consulting business explained, "This is absolutely the kind of thing they have to be doing – experimenting. There are no set answers anymore." The same can be said for college stores. The market is changing with technology and the future is not clearly defined but experimenting with digital initiatives on campus can help lead to a solution for the future.

Amazon releases e-book application for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Earlier today Amazon made a surprising move in an effort to capture more of the e-book market. According to an article from The New York Times, Amazon has released a free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows Apple users to access and purchase the 240,000 e-books currently available for the Kindle. Ian Freed, Vice President in charge of the Kindle explained that Amazon sees the e-reading application as a complement to the Kindle device and believes it could lead to more Kindle sales for its larger screen and longer battery life. Additionally, people that own both Kindle and Apple devices will benefit from the Whispersync technology which allows users to view all of their previously purchased e-books on both devices and place bookmarks on one device and have it display on the other. However, a posting from Gadgetwise explains that the application does lack some important features including widescreen reading capability, touch screen functionality to increase the text size, the ability to add notes, and most importantly the ability to download easily. It seems that the new Kindle application is best suited for customers that have either purchased the book via the Kindle or by using their computer because when users try to purchase e-books from the application a message says, “Get the best shopping experience by visiting www.amazon.com/kindlestore on your Mac or PC.”

iPhone experiment at Houston Community College

A recent article in The Wired Campus discusses an iPhone experiment occurring at Houston Community College. Earlier this semester, students in one section of a combination distance education and in-classroom course were loaned iPhones to supplement their computers while students in another section of the same course were asked to use only their computers to view lecture videos and do online assignments. The students in both sections have been keeping journals to record when and where they logged in to use the course materials and how much time they spent. The preliminary findings from the experiment show that the students with iPhones spend more time studying than those without. This finding can most likely be attributed to the student’s ability to access the material wherever they are although the newness of the technology could also have an effect on the results. Additionally, the professor of the course has noticed a social benefit to using the iPhones because the devices were like an icebreaker for the students, most of which are working adults, and they are now interacting more outside of the classroom and forming study groups. More results from the study will be available at the end of the semester.

Digital textbooks in the news

Recently there have been several articles regarding digital textbooks featured in the college newspapers. Here are the links to a few of the stories:

• San Jose State University
• Lehigh University
• The University of Victoria
• Brown University
• Sonoma State University

The articles provide some interesting information about the use of digital textbooks on the respective campuses. The Spartan Daily at San Jose State University reports that the appeal of e-textbooks is increasing and the digital offerings at their bookstore have more than doubled in the past year. At the University of Victoria, a survey was conducted to find out if students would buy e-textbooks when available. The results showed that 7% would always buy e-textbooks, 33% never would, and for the remaining 60% it would depend on the price. The Brown Daily Herald article explained that at Brown University most of the textbooks are from university presses and not yet available in digital format however, students do want the option to buy e-textbooks and could decide to go with the environmentally friendly digital version if given a choice.

In recent months, more and more campuses have begun expanding their offerings to include digital texts. While many students may still prefer the print version over the digital, we are beginning to see an increase in the appeal of e-books.

Digital pilots in the U.K.

A recent article from Russian Today provides a look at how a university in the U.K. is piloting digital technology. Similar to a pilot occurring at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in the U.S., The University of Derby is experimenting with the use of iPods for medical students. Recently, 35 first-year students studying diagnostic radiology were given iPods with video lessons to supplement their lectures in hope that the medical demonstrations would be more useful than a traditional textbook. According to Chris O’Reilly, e-Learning Development Coordinator for Radiography, the university is already realizing the academic and social benefits of the devices. He explains that students find the devices to be a great resource and appreciate the ability to access the material wherever and whenever they want. Additionally, the device provides a social benefit by helping the university develop a relationship with the students from the start of their enrollment. The iPod pilot is likely the first example of additional digital initiatives for the university. Chris O’Reilly explains, “We are always looking for innovative ways to deliver education to students.”

NPR interview with Northwest Missouri State University

Earlier this week, NPR featured a radio interview and related article with Northwest Missouri State University President, Dean Hubbard and a few students participating in the e-textbook pilot at the university. As mentioned in a previous posting, the university is conducting a pilot with e-textbooks that can be downloaded to laptops as well as testing out Sony PRS 700 e-readers. The interview notes that about half of the students at the school still say they prefer physical textbooks however at least one professor has noticed that the students are more likely to bring their laptops to class than their textbooks and in turn students could be more likely to read the digital text over the printed version. This article also incorrectly cites a statistic from NACS that 18% of college students have purchased an e-book. The actual finding shows that 18.5% of students have either purchased or accessed digital course materials; this includes materials such as digital articles or applications like Pearson’s MyMathLab.