No ruling for Google Book Search settlement

The Google Book Search fairness hearing was held yesterday and according to The Huffington Post, the judge heard from several supporters and objectors throughout the day. During the hearing, Judge Denny Chin questioned the lawyers who reached the $125 million settlement. Chin asked lawyer for authors, Michael J. Boni, why the settlement gave Google publishing rights into the future. Chin noted, “Usually it's a release of claims based on what's happened in the past. Usually you don't have a release of claims based on future conduct. Why is this case different?" Boni agreed that the case was unusual but said that the deal is fair despite objections. During the discussion about orphan works, Chin noted, “I would surmise that Google wants the orphan books and that’s what this is about.” Judge Chin noted that “there’s too much to digest” and did not rule on the settlement. According to the Wall Street Journal, Judge Chin wants to write an opinion at a later date to outline his views so the ruling could take several months.

Amazon acquires screen technology company

According to The New York Times, Amazon may be working on a device to compete with the iPad. Earlier this month, Amazon acquired Touchco, a start-up company that is developing flexible, color, multitouch-screen technology. With the technology, Amazon could produce a Kindle with a color screen that can detect an unlimited number of touch points and display multimedia content. This would give Amazon a more advanced and potentially less expensive screen than those used for the iPad.

Amazon’s announcement last month regarding the release of a kit to enable developers to build apps for the Kindle also proves that Amazon is looking to compete with Apple. Analysts predict that Amazon will need to use new screen technology or drop the price of the current Kindle in order to compete. Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital says, “If touch screens were added to the Kindle or other Amazon devices, it would bring them up to date with the plethora of other screens consumers are becoming used to. Any device is at a disadvantage if it doesn’t offer it.”

To see photos and a short video of the Touchco technology, visit the Bits Blog.

Google defends revised settlement

As mentioned in a previous posting, several groups including the U.S. Department of Justice recently filed objections to the revised Google Book Search settlement. The U.S. Department of Justice explained on their website that despite the substantial progress reflected in the revised settlement there are still class certification, copyright, and antitrust issues. According to a new article from eSchool News, Google has issued a filing to defend its revised settlement and is not planning to withdraw the settlement to make revisions as it did in November.

Beginning tomorrow, Google will attempt to win the judge’s approval at the fairness hearing. If approved, consumers will be able to access the millions of books that Google has scanned over the past five years. Many of the books are orphan works or those which are under copyright but out-of-print and the rights holders are unknown or can not be located. Major libraries including university libraries contain large numbers of orphan works and Google could gain exclusive rights to publish the books online and profit from them. As of our members noted several months ago, if the settlement is approved, it could be a real game changer and easily affect every community and stakeholder in the industry.

140,000 apps available in the Apple store

In October 2009, Apple announced that its customers had downloaded over two billion apps from the Apple app store and there were 85,000 apps to choose from. By January 2010, Apple had reached its three billionth download and now there are over 140,000 apps. An interesting chart on the Mobclix website shows the number of apps in each of the 20 app categories. Books and Education apps are in the top 5 with 20,621 applications (14.3%) and 9,293 (6.4%) respectively. The number of apps in both of these categories has nearly doubled since October. We can expect that the number of apps as well as the sophistication of these apps will continue to increase in the coming months when the iPad becomes available.

In addition, Apple is nearing its 10 billionth song download. You can see how quickly the downloads are occurring via this counter on the iTunes webpage.

Survey finds most e-reader owners are satisfied with their device

A recent survey conducted by market research company NPD Group found that 93 percent of e-reader owners are either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their device. When asked to name their favorite feature, 60 percent of respondents said wireless access. In terms of recommended improvements, 42 percent said they would like to see more book title availability, 39 percent said longer battery life, and 34 percent said color screens. The survey also showed that 30 percent of respondents use more than one device to read e-books such as a smartphone or PC.

The Talking Pen

Recently we featured a posting about an interesting new smartpen from Livescribe that can record audio and link it to the words written with the pen. Another type of smartpen called the
Talking Pen – Multimedia Print Reader (MPR) is now available in India. According to an article, when the pen is placed on a book that contains MPR codes, it activates the preloaded audio files so that the user can hear the text as they read. Aadarsh Private Limited, creator of the Talking Pen, says that the technology can be used as an education tool to help those that are visually impaired or have dyslexia.

e-reader happenings

While the blog highlights many of the digital happenings affecting our industry, there is often more going on than we have a chance to cover each week. Here is a round-up of some of the recent e-reader news.

• According to Computerworld, Sony may be working on a device to compete with the Apple iPad.
• According to Engadget, Prime View International (PVI), maker of e-paper displays for e-readers, will introduce color, flexible, and touchscreen displays later this year.
• Asustek is planning to launch its first e-reader, the Eee Book, at the Computex Taipei 2010 electronics show beginning on June 1. PC World says that Asustek is also planning to launch a tablet to compete with the iPad. The tablet could be available later this year.
• According to the New York Times, the JooJoo tablet is now in full production. Meanwhile, a legal battle between the creators of the device is ongoing.
• According to Engadget, LG is working on a device to compete with Apple and Amazon. Details have not been released but the device could hit the market by April.
• Micro-Star International (MSI) is preparing to launch a tablet later this year.
• The Bits Blog has an interesting posting about whether or not e-readers really cause eye strain
• DigitalBeat and GreenBiz discuss the “green” aspects of the Apple iPad and if e-reader devices can help save the planet
  

Update on NMS Digital Content Platform Pilots

A few months ago, NMS announced an agreement with Canadian Campus Retail Associates (CCRA) for co-development and deployment of a common digital content platform (DCP) that is designed with student-friendly terms and reflects the academic nature of our marketplace. The platform was successfully tested in the Canadian market during the fall term 2009 and this semester the U.S. pilot was initiated. The current pilot spans close to 60 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Feedback to date has been quite positive.

Recently we realized that there may be some confusion regarding what the pilot is and is not, so we wanted to take this opportunity to clarify. The current pilot is only testing one piece of a larger solution. The pilot gives stores the ability to integrate the DCP into their own website so that students can access free e-books via a link on the website. Currently the platform offers 200 free Digital Study Versions which are enhanced digital versions of course material content that can be downloaded an unlimited number of times. The titles are either available in the public domain or are royalty free versions of materials authored by Instructors. Elements such as custom content and Print-on-Demand (POD) capabilities were not incorporated into this phase of the pilot.

As an evolving pilot project, the goal is to learn. This should not be viewed as a complete solution at this time, although it does include some core elements of a final solution. Based upon the feedback from the initial pilot, NMS will work in collaboration with CCRA on further enhancements to the system, acquisition of additional content, incorporation of POD capabilities, and a plan for continued expansion for store participation. The stores participating in the current pilot were selected in partnership with the Independent College Bookstore Association (ICBA) and represent a broad range of geographic, demographic, and scalability criteria. One of the key things we wanted to learn was if we could design a solution that was scalable to stores of diverse size and technical expertise. We really appreciate the additional number of stores that have shown interest in the DCP capabilities and we look forward to offering the service to all stores in the coming months, hopefully with expanded content and capabilities included.

For individuals attending CAMEX in a few weeks, we will have a session on Friday, March 13th where CCRA, ICBA, and NMS will talk about the partnership between these organizations, the importance of this initiative, and additional pilot program details.

Publishers negotiate with Amazon and Google for agency model

According to a posting from Digital Trends, three publishers are now renegotiating their deals with Amazon in order to gain control over e-book pricing. The negotiations started soon after the iPad was announced and it became clear that Apple would offer the publishers more favorable terms. Since then, Macmillan, HarperCollins, and Hachette have all announced plans to switch to an agency model that will allow the publishers to set the price for e-books and receive a 70 percent commission on titles sold. Amazon recently expressed their disapproval of the model and at one point removed direct access to all Macmillan Kindle and print books. The titles were restored but the final terms of the negotiation have not been disclosed.

According to The New York Times, publishers may also convince Google to move to this model for titles sold through Google Editions. It was reported a few months ago that Google would offer a 63:37 split in favor of the publisher when Google Editions launches this summer. In addition, customers would be able to print and copy/paste portions of the text. According to the article, Google is open to talking about the model and removing the option to print and copy/paste.

Wiley to offer content on Blio

According to a recent press release, John Wiley & Sons will be the first major publisher to partner with Baker & Taylor to provide educational and consumer content for the Blio platform. Blio is an impressive e-reader software application that recently debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show. The platform retains the layout, typesetting, fonts and pagination of a book; supports video and text-to-speech functionality; and is designed to run on devices such as tablets, computers, and iPhones. The press release does not mention when the first Wiley titles will be available.

Google Book Search update

In November 2009, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers submitted a revised version of the Google Book Settlement that was intended to resolve the U.S. Justice Department’s concerns that the settlement would violate copyright law and give Google an unfair advantage. Soon after, the judge presiding over the case granted preliminary approval of the amended settlement and gave groups until January 28, 2010 to file objections.

Since November, several groups have filed objections including the U.S. Department of Justice. In a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice's website, it says that despite the substantial progress reflected in the settlement there are still class certification, copyright, and antitrust issues. Postings on the Bits Blog and Wired Campus list several other groups that say that the revisions are not enough to prevent Google from having a monopoly over orphan works. Some of these groups include: Amazon; Microsoft; the Internet Archive; Open Book Alliance; Institute for Information Law and Policy at the New York Law School; and a group of 80 professors, led by Pamela Samuleson, a professor of law and information at the University of California at Berkley. In addition, an informative website called The Public Index, has a complete list of all the filings in support and opposition to the settlement.

The future for Google Book Search could be revealed within the coming weeks. The fairness hearing for the settlement is scheduled to take place on February 18, 2010.

Asustek’s technology for the future

Recently the Bits Blog featured a really interesting posting about the radical devices that manufacturer Asustek is working on. The devices include a wearable smartphone bracelet that finds, filters, and provides the user with the right information at the right time; a TV that works with gesture commands; and a tablet with location based services. According to the posting, the company already has a working prototype of the wearable smartphone. Here is a link to a video demo of the devices.

Is Apple working on a second tablet?

An article from TechCrunch says that Apple could be working on another tablet that is even larger than the iPad and more like a Mac than an iPhone. The article notes that if the rumor is true, it could be revealed at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

ASU Bookstore adds free e-book links to website

Here is an example of a college store that is providing its customers with information about how to obtain free e-books. ASU Bookstore added a page to their website that includes a list of free e-book links and descriptions of the titles and formats offered. The ASU Bookstore, like others, made this information available as a service to students as part of an effort to contribute to lowering textbook costs where possible.

CQ Press partners with LibreDigital

CQ Press has partnered with LibreDigital to launch an online publishing platform called CQ Press Custom and Online Books. The platform will provide professors with examination copies of the CQ Press collection and the opportunity to create custom print and digital political science textbooks. Students will also be able to use the platform to access CQ Press texts or the custom texts created by professors. According to a posting on the textbookfacts.org website, the custom textbooks can include in-print and out-of-print publications, public domain content, and material written by the professor. Students that choose the digital version of the text will be able to access it immediately while print copies will take two weeks to arrive.

Textbook publishers partner with ScrollMotion

According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12, Pearson, and Kaplan Publishing are all working with ScrollMotion to turn their textbooks and test-prep guides into applications for the iPad. The ScrollMotion reader differs from Stanza and other e-book applications because each book is a stand-alone application that uses ScrollMotion’s Iceberg reader and each book retains the pagination of the print book. The applications will enhance the reading experience by allowing students to play videos, highlight text, record lectures, take notes, search the text, and participate in interactive quizzes.

At last week’s unveiling of the iPad, details about how the device could be used for education were not provided. According to the WSJ article, people familiar with the situation say that education was one of the focal points of discussion during the iPad development. At the Apple event, Steve Jobs did confirm that publishers such as Penguin, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette Book Group have signed on to provide e-books through a new Apple app called iBooks. It is not clear if textbooks will also be offered through the iBooks app.

Enrollment in online education continues to grow at a fast pace

A study conducted by the Sloan Consortium, the College Board, and the Babson Survey Research Group called "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009" found that more than 4.6 million college and university students (about 25% of higher education students) took at least one online course during the fall 2008 semester. This represents a 17 percent increase over the number reported in 2007 and greatly exceeds the overall higher education growth rate of 1.2 percent. For the past six years, online enrollments have been growing faster than overall higher education enrollment and the most recent data continues this trend.

The report also says the economy is contributing to the high growth rate in online education. A large number of the respondents reported that the economic downturn created increased demand for both face-to-face and online courses. Of the 2,590 colleges and universities that participated in the survey, 66 percent of institutions reported increased demand for new online courses and programs and 73 percent reported increased demand for existing online courses and programs.

To find out more, you can view the full report via the link above. In addition, an article from Campus Technology features a video of Babson College associate professor, Elaine Allen, discussing the findings.

Macmillan to set prices for Kindle books

According to an article from The New York Times, last week Amazon removed direct access to all Macmillan Kindle and print books while the companies were sorting out a dispute over pricing for the Kindle titles. The companies have reached an agreement and under the new terms, Macmillan will set the price for the e-books and receive 70 percent commission on its titles. Up until now, Amazon has controlled all e-book pricing. Amazon placed this announcement on their website noting that they do not agree with the new pricing and “don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan.” The announcement goes on to say that there is an opportunity for independent presses and self-published authors to “provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.”

2010 Horizon Report

The 2010 Horizon Report produced in collaboration with the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative is now available for viewing and downloading. This year’s report is the seventh annual report in the series. As with prior reports, this version outlines six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use on campus within three adoption horizons spread over the next one to five years. This year’s list includes:

Within 1 year or less:
- Mobile computing
- Open content

Within 2-3 years:
- Electronic books
- Simple augmented reality

Within 4-5 years:
- Gesture-based computing
- Visual data analysis

The technologies of particular interest to the readers of this blog are also those within the first and second adoption horizons. The report shows that the two trends that are most likely to enter mainstream learning within the year are mobile computing and open content. Mobile technology made last year’s report and this year it is noted that this category becomes more capable and more interesting each year. There are many opportunities for mobile computing because nearly all students carry a mobile device and an increasing number of pilots and experiments are taking place on campuses. The report points out that before we see widespread use there are some concerns that need to be addressed including privacy, classroom management, and access.

Open content could also enter mainstream use within the year. The open content movement has been present for years but has recently begun to rapidly drive change. The report notes, “Today, there is a tremendous variety of open content, and in many parts of the world, open content represents a profound shift in the way students study and learn. Far more than a collection of free online course materials, the open content movement is a response to the rising costs of education, the desire for access to learning in areas where such access is difficult, and an expression of student choice about when and how to learn.”

Electronic books are expected to enter mainstream use within two to three years. The report points out that campuses have been slower to adopt e-books than the general public due to the lack of available academic content, the inability for e-readers to render high quality illustrations, and because e-books were often viewed as ancillary to the printed version. Over the past year, these adoption barriers have become less of a constraint as more electronic versions of academic titles have become available, new technologies have hit the market or are in development, and many publishers have uncoupled the print and digital content. The report notes, “Electronic books are quickly reaching the point where their advantages over the printed book are compelling to almost any observer.”

More information about each technology and the key trends can be found in the full report. Additionally, there is a Horizon Project Wiki that is used as a workspace for the project and contains links to the data, research, and background materials in the report.

Upcoming e-readers and tablets

Here is an interesting article from The New York Times that features a listing of the tablets and e-readers that will complete against the Apple iPad when they hit the market later this year.

Apple iPad vs. Amazon Kindle

Since the Apple iPad was announced, there has been a lot of discussion about whether or not the iPad can put the Kindle out of business. Below is a listing with some of the links.

• The Bits Blog has postings from each perspective. Here is a posting with three reasons why the iPad WILL kill the Amazon Kindle and here is one with three reasons why it WON'T.
• CNET created a side-by-side comparison
• TechCrunch lists 10 Reasons why the iPad will put the Kindle out of business
• Forbes lists five reasons why it won’t
• TechFlash argues both sides

What do you think?

Elsevier and Follett enhance e-book offerings

This week, both Elsevier and Follett announced changes to their digital textbook offerings. According to a press release from Elsevier, the company has launched an interactive digital learning platform called Pageburst. The new platform will feature e-textbooks that do not expire, integrated multimedia, text-to-speech, social networking tools, and an integrated instructor grade book. Students can also download an app for their iPhone/iPod Touch and potentially the iPad. Currently, 550 e-textbooks are available on Pageburst.

Follett has announced that it will begin offering a Try Now, Buy Later program for its CafeScribe eBook platform. Students and professors will be able to download the e-books for free for seven days before purchasing. According to the press release, this will give students a chance to try out the digital version and will assist students that are not able to obtain a print copy of a textbook at the beginning of the semester because it is temporarily out of stock.

The Applet iPad tablet has arrived

Well, we all new it was coming. The Apple iPad tablet was announced yesterday and today there is an enormous amount of coverage from pretty much every news source and tech blog you can think of. The opinions about the device’s capabilities and potential for success vary widely. Donald Bell from CNET probably summed it up best when he said, “The Apple iPad is a bit of a misfit.” Bell went on to say, “Fortunately, I’m fond of misfits. More importantly, I’m a fan of disruptive technology – and for all the snickering, jaded, eye-rolling comments the iPad will get, it is going to change the way we think about mobile technology beyond the smartphone.”

As expected, the iPad is much like a larger version of an iPod Touch. The device has a 9.7 inch touchscreen and comes in three models 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. Each of the models can be purchased as Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi + 3G with service options from AT&T. Users will be able to watch TV shows and movies, read newspapers, play music, use the internet, send e-mails, use any app that is currently available in the App Store, as well as new apps that are being designed specifically for the iPad. But more importantly, users will be able to read e-books and textbooks on the device. During the event Steve Jobs commented, “Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this, but we’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a step further.” Jobs confirmed that five publishers (Penguin, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette Book Group) have signed on to provide e-books that will be available through a new app called iBooks. Details about which textbooks will be offered and pricing were not provided at the event but it was noted that the books will be in ePub format and publishers can add videos to the books. An article from Wall Street Journal provides some information about the pricing for the trade e-books and notes that the Apple business model will provide publishers with more control over e-book pricing. The agreement could also help publishers negotiate with Amazon on future pricing.

The Wi-Fi version of the device is expected to begin shipping in 60 days and the 3G model will ship in 90 days so we can anticipate that more details about the e-book and e-textbook offerings will unfold as the ship date approaches. As noted above, this device has the potential to change the way we think about mobile technology and in addition it could change the way we think about textbooks. If interactive textbooks that enhance the learning experience are offered, the device could be a game changer for our industry.

McGraw-Hill confirms Apple tablet

There is a ton of buzz this morning about the Apple event that will held in San Francisco later today. For weeks, many news sources have been reporting that the tablet will be announced at the event and yesterday Terry McGraw, CEO of McGraw-Hill, confirmed those reports. In an interview with CNBC McGraw commented, “Yeah, very exciting. Yes, they’ll make their announcement tomorrow on this one. We have worked with Apple for quite a while. And the Tablet is going to be based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable. So what you are going to be able to do now is we have a consortium of e-books. And we have 95% of all our materials that are in e-book format on that one. So now with the tablet you’re going to open up the higher education market, the professional market. The tablet is going to be just really terrific.”

We look forward to finding out more this afternoon. The event begins at 1 p.m. eastern/10 a.m. pacific. For those that are interested, Ars Technica and CNET will feature live blogging from the event.

Vook to launch new publishing platform

We first heard about a company called Vook in September when Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, released four “vooks” or e-books that incorporate video. According to Publishers Weekly, the company is now launching a new service called MotherVook to give publishers the ability to create their own enhanced e-books. Publishers will be able to upload content to a software platform and manage their titles through a central database. The software will also give publishers the ability to create one file that will work on multiple platforms and devices. In addition, publishers will have access to a book video creator company called TurnHere that can assist in the creation of the video content.

Over the last several months, we have been hearing more and more about interactive digital content. There are already some versions of interactive textbooks available but we can expect that the technology will improve in the coming months and years to provide students with a new way of learning.

Media use among 8-18 year olds increases while time spent reading books remains steady

A new study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that daily media use among children and teens has increased dramatically since 2004. In 2009, 8-18 year olds consumed an average of seven hours and 38 minutes of entertainment media a day. This is up from six hours and 21 minutes a day in 2004. The increase in media usage is driven largely by access to cell phones and iPods/MP3 players. Over the past five years, cell phone ownership among 8-18 year olds increased from 39% to 66% and iPod/MP3 player ownership increased from 18% to 76%. Activities such as social networking and high levels of media multitasking also contributed to the increase.

According to the report, the amount of time spent with mediums such as music/audio, TV content, computers, and video games increased while movies and print decreased. Print media decreased from an average of 43 minutes per day in 2004 to 38 minutes in 2009. The decrease is attributed to time spent with magazines which dropped from 14 minutes in 2004 to 9 minutes in 2009 and newspapers which dropped from 6 minutes to 3 minutes. Interestingly, the time that children and teens spend reading books has remained steady at 25 minutes per day. In addition, 8-18 year olds now spend an average of two minutes per day reading magazines and newspapers online.

E-reader galleries

To see photos of the most promising e-reader technologies for 2010, check out the galleries on TheStreet.com and Wired's Gadget Lab.

e-reader review site

Here is an interesting site worth checking out. Best-eReaders.com features reviews, ratings, product descriptions, and video demos for many of the e-readers on the market.

NACS Media Solutions launches website and Facebook fan page

We keep commercial announcements on this blog to a minimum, reporting instead on other news happening in the world of digital course materials and ebooks. However, we have some exciting announcements to share with you today.

First, you probably noticed our new logo and look for the blog. The content and approach will remain the same, but with several initiatives starting to come to fruition, over the next few months we will provide updates on what we are doing within NACS and NACS Media Solutions (NMS) related to this area.

Second, we have just launched our new NMS website http://www.nacsmediasolutions.com/ and our Facebook fan page. On our website, you will find more information about how we are working to build and support a foundation of technology, content solutions, and a network of partners that enable collegiate retailers to be an effective and value-adding channel for digital course materials and other pertinent digital content, products, and services. Many of our service offerings are still in development so check back frequently for updates. We are working on some really exciting initiatives and look forward to announcing these in the coming months.

Don’t forget to show your support for NMS and become our fan on Facebook! You can access the fan page via this link or by searching for NACS Media Solutions.

Preparing for the Apple Tablet

The latest reports say that the long awaited Apple tablet will debut at an event in San Francisco on January 27th and begin shipping in March. On Monday, Apple sent an invitation to journalists with minimal information about the event. The invitation notes, “Come see our latest creation” with the Apple logo surrounded by colorful splatters of paint. An interesting posting on the Bits blog features comments from Tech bloggers about what the invitation could mean.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that HarperCollins is in discussions with Apple and will likely make its e-books available on the tablet. Other reports say that all the major publishers are in discussions. According to the WSJ article, the e-books will feature enhanced content and HarperCollins will set the price. It is not clear if the e-books will be sold through a new e-book store or the iTunes Store but Apple will likely receive a percentage of all sales. The article notes that Amazon could face significant competition from the tablet because the new e-books will require color and video capabilities that the current Kindle models do not offer. This would give Apple a new e-book product and an advantage over Amazon. In addition, by working with Apple, publishers may be able gain back some control over e-book pricing which has been dictated by Amazon in recent months.

Amazon has clearly taken note of these recent developments because on Wednesday Amazon issued two press releases. The first press release announces a new deal for Kindle publishers that is similar to the Apple iPhone App Store business model with a 70-30 split in favor of the content provider. The press release notes, “Today, authors often receive royalties in the range of 7 to 15 percent of the list price that publishers set for their physical books, or 25 percent of the net that publishers receive from retailers for their digital books. We're excited that the new 70 percent royalty option for the Kindle Digital Text Platform will help us pay authors higher royalties when readers choose their books." An article from Fast Company points out that those who participate in the new model must meet a specific set of criteria defined by Amazon and the press release is misleading. "Assuming publishers do choose the higher royalty option, there's absolutely no guarantee it'll translate into larger pay checks for the author--it'll depend on contractual agreements between publishers and their writers, and the only authors who'll clearly benefit are self-publishers. Furthermore, the entire press release, spun expertly to look like a positive move by Amazon, is covering up the fact that until now Amazon's maintained a strict stranglehold over its e-book content with a lower royalty share scheme that has increasingly come under fire from the publishing world as a threat to the future of good book writing.”

Amazon’s second press release announces the release of a Kindle Development Kit to give developers the opportunity to build apps for the Kindle. This is interesting news because the current black and white E Ink screens on the Kindle will not support apps the way Apple devices can. Is it possible a next generation device is in the works? If anything is clear, Amazon is anticipating some big news from Apple next week.

November 2009 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for November 2009 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. Trade e-book sales were $18.3 million for November 2009, a 199.9% increase over November 2008. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 185.2%. Note: These figures represent the 12 to 15 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Predictions from the higher ed CIO

Inside Higher Education had a good article by Lev Gonick last week on the outlook for higher education IT in the next year. I have great respect for Lev among higher ed CIOs for his perspective and expertise on emerging technology and higher education, and some of his well-connected insights.

Among his list of trend predictions for higher ed IT in 2010 of interest to this blog are the pieces on both gaming and open content. However, most who follow this blog will probably appreciate the following trend prediction most:

(5) The E-Book Reader Grows up and Goes to Campus. 2009 marked the birth of the e-book reader in the university marketplace. The first set of entrants put the already nervous higher education (text)book market on notice. New business models, publishing models, revenue sharing strategies, and new models around intellectual property and the assigned ‘text’ for a course proliferated and served to dislodge the staid legacy economy for many universities. If buying second hand books online was not enough, the new e-book readers were perceived by some to disintermediate traditional providers of services and economic benefit in the college supply chain. In 2010 a whole new generation of e-book readers will emerge as the life cycle of innovation really takes off for this class of mobile smart pads. Dedicated, single purpose readers will be eclipsed this year by new, integrated platforms supporting new functionality, Web services, rich media, open application development environments, and a wide range of new experimental interface approaches. Publishers, bookstores, technology, and entertainment giants will all clamor to the market, marking a significant if not final shift from the traditional bound book toward fully repurposable content for learning, including traditional texts.

This is not the first quarter from which we have heard a similar prediction regarding e-readers and course materials. I would not expect a complete change in this space in 2010, but as Lev suggests, there are some powerful shifts at work here as we rapidly move from one generation, to the next, to be followed by yet another --all within a very compressed timeline. The potential for e-readers and e-textbooks in higher education has not missed the attention of college CIOs, publishers, new entrants, device manufacturers, or a myriad of other players (both new and established).

2010 could very well be the start of a new decade in more ways than one.

Mobile learning at Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University created a short video about their iPhone mobile learning initiative that is worth watching. In the video, students and faculty share their experiences and discuss how the initiative has positively shaped the learning environment at the university.

Local Books iPhone app

LibraryThing created a great iPhone app to help users locate their local bookstores, libraries, and upcoming book events. The app is called Local Books and it includes maps and details for 51,000 venues. LibraryThing notes that the current app does not show inventory for the bookstores and libraries but points out that it would be a great idea.

Ready or Not, Change is Here

There was a great piece in the CACS newsletter this month by Suzanne Donnelly, CCR from the Bronco Bookstore about change in the industry. It is a one-pager worth the read as she made several points about innovation at the store level far more effectively than I have. Some of the pieces I liked best...

From the opening:

We've been hearing for nearly a decade now that our industry is changing, that stores and publishers alike will have to adapt or be left behind. Some of us have been convinced for years, others have been skeptical, but as the last days of 2009 fly by, even the most hard-core doubters have seen the signs that doing what we've always done the way we've always done it would be courting disaster.

And later:

All of this is happening at a time when many of us are harder pressed than ever just to stay on top of "business as usual". As our stores and institutions cope with furloughs, layoffs and attrition from hiring freezes, the phrase "do more with less" is on everyone's lips. I know many days I feel I barely have time to think - let alone think outside the box! Trying a new program, implementing a new strategy, can seem impossible on days when, like Alice with the Red Queen, we're running just as fast as we can to stay in one spot. Nevertheless, carving out time to imagine and plan, and making the decision to act on those plans, is no longer optional. And no store or course materials department is immune from that imperative… not even mine!

And then further down:

The important point is that no matter how well we think we're doing in one area, innovation is still imperative. No matter how busy we already are, we can't tell ourselves we're too busy to try something new. Even if administrators are not banging at our doors we should be imagining what we'll tell them when they do - or better yet, be getting ready to knock on their doors with our own proposals for change.

She goes on to note that this year, the CACS Course Materials committee "will do our best to help our members find new energy for innovation even in hard times."

All I have left to say is "Hurray!" If it doesn't hurt, you have my support.

Marketing to students...

Here is a site some might find interesting -- "Big Brand On Campus" has a set of videos on entrepreneurship and marketing to students or in colleges. A recent video featured Mary Adler-Kozak from NACS talking about the upcoming CAMEX 2011.

Korea moves toward more e-books in education

Korea is quickly moving forward to a future where e-books in education are the norm. They distinguish between e-textbooks (essentially the .pdf version of the printed text) and digital textbooks (as the more interactive, multimedia version of a textbook). A recent news story in JoongAng Daily discusses the plans of Korea's Education Ministry for digital textbooks in elementary through high school over the next two years. The country will be moving to a more flexible model for textbook pricing, and at the same time encourage greater adoption of digital course materials. The plan calls for printed textbooks at school and digital versions for home, beginning with select subjects such as literature, language, and mathematics.

A definite date for digital textbooks...

Wondering when digital will finally take off for textbooks? Well, if inventory (i.e., availability of a digital version of a print book) is currently a barrier, that will soon be changing. California has passed legislation mandating that companies which sell textbooks to California universities must offer digital versions by 2020. Of course, most companies will be compliant with that requirement long before that deadline, but it does establish an end date for the problem.

What this means is that if you are a bookseller serving a college or university in the state of California you can expect that 100% of the print books you sell will have an alternative digital option available in less than a decade. It also means that if the content is available for California, it is likely going to be available in every other state as well. Therefore, if you are not currently getting experience selling, marketing, and delivering e-books, then you are probably already giving up market share, and will certainly do so in the future. If your store cannot offer digital, then your competitors will (and in some cases already are).

We now have a more definitive deadline: a decade at maximum. Waiting 9 years and 11 months to prepare would not be good business strategy. One could liken this to a tsunami, which may not be all that visible until it gets closer to shore. We may see warning signs, such as the tide pulling out to dramatic levels. Early warning beacons may go off. Waiting around on the beach to see what might happen next is probably not a good idea, no matter how sunny the sky may seem today. We have all the lessons from other industries around us which gives book retailers the best chance of survival in the face of digital. Relying on a future of just print does not serve our customers, and does not position a store for continued success. We have a decade at most before our tsunami hits -- and that is if you estimate VERY conservatively.

So, what are you doing to prepare for digital textbooks today? (Seriously, we would like to hear.)

View of CES from NYT

The New York Times had a great story on e-readers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)last week. The piece focuses on some of the next generation readers, many of which will be tablet-like devices from companies like Apple and HP. While many think the mythical Apple tablet will dominate or at least radically alter the e-reader device market, Apple could have some competition this time. The future devices make the current Kindles look like the old model-T.

In addition to the news story, The NYT also has a video on the e-readers at CES. It is 3.5 minutes long and worth watching.

Entourage adds content deals and joins Blackboard Alliance Program

Earlier this month, Entourage, creator of the eDGe dualbook reader, announced that 100 of McGraw-Hill’s top selling textbooks will be available on the device. Since then, Entourage has also partnered with Oxford University Press and John Wiley & Sons. According to the press release, the Oxford University Press deal includes e-book titles and the incorporation of the Oxford American College Dictionary directly into the device’s dictionary application. Entourage has also just announced that it has joined the Blackboard Alliance Program. According to the press release, the library application on the eDGe device will be linked to the Blackboard Learn Content Module to allow for file sharing between students and teachers.

The eDGe made its official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week and has received lots of press from the show. A demo of the eDGe at CES is available here. The device will begin shipping next month and the Blackboard software is expected to be released in June.

Update to yesterday's post

I have received a few e-mails about yesterday's posting on the eCampusNews article that the link is not working. The link was working on Friday. I can not find a working link to the main article that is working today. Here is a link to the sub-story on e-textbooks that is working as of two minutes ago.

Why e-commerce matters to booksellers

I think I shared these numbers, but in a presentation from the London Book Fair day of digital education last year, the presenter from Bowker noted that in 2001 online sales of books were expected to never exceed 5%--ever. In 2008, Bowker reported that 23% of all book sales were happening online, making it now the largest channel for book sales. At the end of 2009 at least two sources are reporting to us that the number is now 39% of all book sales are happening online—a 16% increase in market share for the online channel in just 12 months. Our most recent student data says that the percentage of textbooks they are buying online (from the college store and other sources combined) is greater than that. Before we reach the end of 2010, one half of all book sales to consumers are expected to occur via a website or online transaction. (Note: hang tags in a college store do not count as an online transaction). On Christmas Day, e-books outsold printed books for the first time at Amazon. Not surprising given the number of those devices given for Christmas, but significant all the same. Some of our internal (i.e., proprietary data) suggest some related and interesting trends for online sales in higher education.

Forgive my bluntness, but it *IS* 2010. If you are a bookseller (collegiate or otherwise) and do not have a website capable of e-commerce transactions, do you really expect to be in business another decade? Can you afford to give up 10, 20, or 50% of your sales to online sources because you do not have an online capability? I could go on, but I am already breaking my New Year's resolution not to get on a soapbox for the 9th or 10th time. My point is, that if booksellers do not want to end up like other content industries being replaced by digital and new channels, they have to invest in the capabilities that allow them to participate in those channels. You have to go to where the customers are -- not expect them to stay with you because they always have. That world just is not our world anymore.

e-textbooks -- one of 2009's big stories

I am sure some of you have seen this already. eCampus News put out their list of the five most significant developments/stories in higher-education technology during the past year. The #1 development/story (even ahead of all of the Google-library-bookscanning news) is that “Digital textbooks open a new chapter in the history of higher education.” All of the press coming out of the CES show this year about e-readers should also be heightening the concern among book retailers who are still only thinking about physical sales of physical books via a physical location.

2010-2011 should be transitional years for this technology as the first “SmartBooks” are being announced at CES – a new product category that will likely replace e-reader devices as they currently exist. There are several interesting innovations here – and most are geared toward textbooks and student usage. The latest rumor is that Apple is projecting to sell 10 million units in the next year – reasonable given sales of 13.5M iphones in the first year. Although this time I think Apple will have some competition. With that many devices, people will want content. E-textbook sales that have been lackluster to this point could be about to hit the knee of the curve—hard. In 2007 we predicted about 5 years to see e-textbooks have a real impact on the higher ed market. The next two years will be the beginning of that impact to be felt. Many other players are moving into online e-book sales recognizing that most books in the future will likely be sold via online channels rather than store channels, and setting up an online store is quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive.

So, some good news for campus booksellers amongst all of this – we are making progress in NMS. We are on schedule to have a number of positive announcements by the time we reach CAMEX. However, the importance of industry education and change management related to the future of these technologies cannot be underestimated. 2010-2014 will be the pivotal years where the fate of physical booksellers will likely either follow that of record/music stores, or create a positive example that other organizations and industries will want to follow. The time to act in an emerging technology market is before other players can take the market away from you. College stores must not let the current low volume of e-textbook sales lull our own actions into complacency. The clock is ticking too quickly for that.

SixthSense technology

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. The presentation by Pranav Mistry, the inventor of SixthSense technology, is definitely worth checking out. Mistry has developed a wearable device that enables interactions between the real world and the world of data. When the device is worn and a user interacts with a physical object, the device will project information about the object onto it. For example, live video can be projected onto a paper newspaper or book reviews can appear on a paper book. The technology even enables a “paper laptop.” You really have to watch the video to believe it!

Future predictions

MediaBistro’s Galleycat blog is featuring an interesting series of articles with predictions for the publishing industry in ten years. They posted predictions from Seth Godin, Richard Curtis, Mark Coker, Jane Dystel, Richard Nash and Scott Steinberg. A few interesting items are Richard Curtis’ prediction that college students will begin using tablet PCs this fall and by 2011 or 2012, tablets will replace laptops on campuses across the nation. Mark Coker believes that in ten years, 95% of all reading will be on screen and Seth Godin says,

“This is the decade when book publishing will (finally) be transformed from a business that chops down trees and puts returnable books into bookstores... into one that finds ideas, funds the writers that need it, and uses their (authors' and publishers') leverage and skills to promote those ideas to people willing to pay for them, in whatever format is the most efficient way to get that transaction to occur. If that doesn't happen, and the industry (led by reactionary old-school CEOs) persists in defining itself as being in the book business, it will be 15% the size it is today by the end of the decade. It's our choice."

Gallycat also has a number of interesting posts about different e-readers and developments at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) out in Las Vegas. Such as their Video Tours of e-readers.

McGraw Hill to deliver higher education content to the eDGe e-reader

According to a recent press release, McGraw-Hill Education has announced a strategic alliance with Entourage Systems to deliver higher education content to the dual screen eDGe e-reader. McGraw-Hill plans to make 100 of its top selling titles in business, economics, science, math, humanities, foreign languages, and social sciences available for purchase through the Entourage e-book store. As mentioned previously, the eDGe device is a hybrid e-reader with a black and white E Ink screen for reading and taking notes, and a color LCD screen for viewing images, videos, and the internet. Textbooks are better suited for this type of e-reader because color graphics and illustrations that are imperative for certain disciplines can be displayed on the LCD screen. The eDGe e-reader will launch at the CES show this week and will begin shipping next month.

Smartbook tablets to debut at Consumer Electronics Show

While e-readers will surely make a mark on the industry in 2010, we are beginning to hear more about smartbook tablet devices that offer more than just the ability to read books. According to an article from CNN, several new tablet technologies are expected to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show this week and Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, says that overall there will be more innovation at this show than any in history. In regards to tablet devices, Shapiro noted, "There's the large screen, which is the television. There's the small screen, which is the wireless phone or the smartphone. Then there's a middle category, where there's a tremendous opportunity for growth. That's the netbook, the smartbook, the dualbook, the nettop, the desktop, the laptop -- tablets. There's a lot going on in that middle screen-size space."

One of the devices expected to debut is an affordable smartbook tablet from Freescale Semiconductor. An article from CNET features some photos that show a 7-inch color touch screen that detaches from the keyboard. The specs include 3G connectivity, an Android or Linux operating system, and 4 to 64 GB of internal storage. Another innovation is a platform called “Blio” that was developed by Ray Kurzweil and is intended to run on tablets and other devices. An article from Wired’s Gadget Lab says that Blio retains the layout, typsetting, fonts, and pagination of a books format. Blio also supports video and animation, text-to-speech functionality, and the ability to synchronize bookmarks and highlights across multiple devices. There are also reports that a few Android tablets could be introduced from makers such as HTC and Dell. It is not expected that Apple will make any announcements at CES but a tablet device could be unveiled at an event on January 26th according to the latest rumors.

2010 has just begun but it already looks like it will be a very interesting year.

Neotake search engine for e-books

The Teleread blog recently featured a posting about an impressive new search engine that indexes all e-book files on the Internet. The search engine is called Neotake and it allows users to search for e-books in 14 languages and six formats. The formats include: ePub, PDF, Mobipocket, Plucker, Qioo, or TXT. Users that own devices such as the Sony Reader and Nook can download ePub files and Kindle users can find Mobipocket e-books via the mobile version of Neotake. Teleread reports that the mobile version is very user friendly and works great with the Kindle.

Popular newspapers and magazines available on the Sony Reader Daily Edition

According to a recent press release, customers that own the new Sony Reader Daily Edition will be able to access many popular newspapers and magazines on their devices. Users can currently purchase a single paper or a monthly subscription to The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. In the coming weeks, users will be able to access an additional 16 newspapers/magazines and Sony says that more publications will follow. According to Sony’s website, the Reader Daily Edition is currently backordered due to high demand and expected to ship on January 15, 2010.

Review of the Nook e-reader

Engadget recently featured a comprehensive review of the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader. The review includes information about how the device compares to the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. There are also several photos and a video demo. Engadget’s overall take is, “In the end, the Nook is an intriguing product launched by a powerful force in the world of booksellers, but the initial offering feels long on promises and short on delivery. With the right software revisions, the Nook could be a tsunami, but as it stands right now, it's only a mild swell.”

As mentioned previously, the Nook sold out just weeks after its debut and well before the holiday season. The current expected ship date for new orders is February 1, 2010. For those of you that want to see the device in person, your local B&N may have a counter set up where you can try out the device.

Kindle books outsell paper books on Christmas day

Last month, Amazon announced that November was the best sales month ever for the Kindle but by December 17th the record was already broken and December became the new best selling month. The Amazon news release does not include actual sales figures but says that the “Kindle has become the most gifted item in Amazon’s history.” Amazon also announced that on Christmas Day, for the first time, customers purchased more Kindle books than paper books. A posting on Wired points out that customers that received Kindles as gifts were probably more likely to make purchases on Christmas day than other shoppers were to log-in to Amazon and purchase paper books. However, it is still a significant milestone for both e-books and Amazon. We expect that the new year will bring many more announcements and milestones for both e-books and e-readers companies.

Happy holidays!

Due to some illness and some scheduled time off, Liz and I will have few postings to the blog over the next week. As the end of the first decade of the millenium approaches, we would like to thank our readers -- both new and returning. We are nearing our 600th post, with over 30 thousand unique visitors from 149 countries, many of whom return regularly.

Blog postings will resume with regularity January 4th. If there are stories or topics you would like to see covered more in 2010, let us know. If you would like more commentary or information on a topic, we will provide that if we can. Based on a continously growing readership, we hope that we are doing something right. However, feedback from you will help us to continue improving.

Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season, and we look forward to exhanging more information with you in 2010.

Best regards,
Mark

Ed Tech predictions

In a recent posting on Education Week's blog they reference an article in the THE Journal which outlines five ed-tech trends expected to gain traction in 2010:

1. eBooks will continue to proliferate.
2. Netbook functionality will grow.
3. More teachers will use interactive whiteboards.
4. Personal devices will infiltrate the classroom.
5. Technology will enable tailored curricula.

It does seem that some of these predictions are a bit optimistic, but certainly we are already seeing growing interest and movement on the first two -- e-books and netbooks. Lately it seems like a plethora of e-book readers, netbooks, and "SmartBook" vendors are starting to come forward with a "solution" for digital textbook delivery and reading. It will be interesting to see where these go.

The Education Week blog also referenced another interesting blog posting by Barry Bachenheimer. He weighs in on some of the challenges that will need to be overcome for these predictions to come true from a k-12 perspective. The story for higher education could be quite different.

If you had to pick 5 technologies likely to change higher education, or perhaps college stores, within the next year, what would they be?

Digital textbook websites

The folks at DegreeDirectory have compiled a list of their top ten picks for the best places to buy digital textbooks online. The companies at the top of the list are: Zinio, Cengage Brain (iChapters), and Coursemart. The posting also includes a few links to free textbook websites.

Batteries of the future

Here’s an interesting innovation that could further change electronics such as e-readers in the years to come. Wired Science recently featured an article that says that scientists have successfully made batteries out of plain paper and nanomaterials. This research brings scientists closer to the development of printable batteries that could actually be molded into computers, cell phones, or solar panels. Can you imagine? Someday in the future we might be able to print our own batteries at home. What would happen to the battery industry and how would it affect so many other industries?

Trade publishers delay release of e-books

Last week, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group all announced that they will delay the e-book versions of some of their best selling titles due to the concern that e-books sales are cannibalizing hardcover sales. Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group plan to delay the books three to four months while HarperCollins will delay the books four to six weeks. In an article from the Wall Street Journal, Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon & Schuster commented, “The right place for the e-book is after the hardcover but before the paperback. We believe some people will be disappointed. But with new [electronic] readers coming and sales booming, we need to do this now, before the installed base of e-book reading devices gets to a size where doing it would be impossible." David Young, chief executive of Hachette Book Group, added, “We're doing this to preserve our industry. I can't sit back and watch years of building authors sold off at bargain-basement prices. It's about the future of the business." If other publishers follow their lead, e-books could be placed in the publishing cycle after the release of the hardcover but before the release of the paperback. However, analysts warn that this model may only work for the short term and withholding e-books may upset buyers.

In a second article from Wall Street Journal, James McQuivey, principal analyst for Consumer Media Technology at Forrester Research Inc., commented, “Every once in a while, a media business that appears to understand the digital reality quickly reverts under pressure and starts acting like a last-century business. If you give people digital content, they'll actually consume more of it. But if you withhold it from them, you are motivating them to buy somebody else's book, or to consider piracy, something which hasn't yet hit the book industry but probably will next year."

Flat World Knowledge announces partnership with Bookshare

In recent months, open access course materials and textbook accessibility have been two important topics in the news and now two companies are joining forces to make open textbooks available to students with print disabilities. Earlier this week, Flat World Knowledge announced a partnership with Bookshare, the largest free online library for people with print disabilities. Bookshare currently has agreements with many trade publishers but Flat World will be the first publisher of higher education materials to supply digital textbooks to the organization.

According to the press release, Flat World will provide Bookshare with XML files so that the files can be converted to DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) and Braille formats. Students will be able to access the texts in multiple formats directly from Bookshare’s website which will eliminate the conversion efforts required by individual campuses for those specific titles. Students will also be able to access the texts when the semester begins rather than waiting weeks for the titles to be converted. According to the agreement, eleven business and economics textbooks will be available initially and within the next two years, an additional fifty titles in several subjects will be added.

October 2009 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for October 2009 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. October 2009 trade e-book sales were $18.5 million which is highest single month thus far and a 254.3% increase over October 2008. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 180.7% for the year. Note that these figures represent the 12 to 15 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Cool-er e-reader to gain wireless capabilities next year

Last week, Interead, maker of the Cool-er e-reader, partnered with AT&T to bring 3G high speed wireless to the e-readers. According to the press release, two versions of the new device will be available in mid 2010; a 3G version and a WiFi version. Interead has also announced a partnership with NewspaperDirect to make over 1300 newspapers and magazines available on the current Cool-er model and the new device.

The Cool-er has received mixed reviews in recent months. While the device comes in eight colors, is available in eight languages, and can handle EPUB, PDF, TXT, and JPEG files, reviewers say that the device is not made as well as other e-readers and navigation is extremely difficult. Interead has not said if any of these features will be modified in the next generation device.

A pen to link paper to digital

Advertising Age recently featured an interesting video clip of Livescribe’s CEO Jim Marggraff demonstrating the company’s Pulse Smartpen. The Smartpen looks like an ordinary pen but also includes a processor, 1-4 GB of storage, speaker, audio jack, microphone, camera, OLED display, and USB connector. When the pen is used with special paper, the camera tracks the movement of anything that is written or drawn while recording audio. The audio can be played back later by touching the pen to portions of the notes. The notes can also be emailed via a link, shared on Facebook, or embedded directly on the web. This is a really interesting concept and one that college students may find particularly useful. At the end of the video, Marggraff also discusses some interesting new ideas that the company is working on including: interactive business cards, interactive print magazines, and the ability to make purchases via the pen. The video is worth a watch to hear the description of these ideas.

Good resource for e-reader and e-book info

ComputerWorld has added a great new reference page to their website that lists all of their latest articles and blog posts about e-books and e-readers. You can access the page here.

Five technology trends to watch in 2010

A recent article from Campus Technology features five higher education technology trends to watch in 2010. The trends are: more interactive classrooms, more information at your fingertips, mashed-up technologies, breaking out of technology isolation, and capabilities that go beyond 1:1. The trends are worth a read through. There are a few interesting items to note including the prediction that next year there will be demand for technologies that make the classroom more dynamic and engaging. Some examples of these technologies are: multimedia content, classroom response systems, and streaming video. We will also begin to see technologies such as smart phones and e-readers influence the way classes are taught because the devices give students and teachers access to any information they need in seconds. Several universities implemented pilots this year to provide students with these technologies and we will likely see more pilots next year as the technology improves and new devices are introduced. It addition, it is predicted that we will see “capabilities that go beyond 1:1.” The traditional 1:1 computing which is the use of one device to handle one task, will be replaced with 4:1 computing as students use more devices and technologies than ever before. Technologies such as netbooks, online education, social networking, smart phones, and podcasts will all continue to be important tools next year.

JooJoo tablet to be released tomorrow

According to ComputerWorld, the CrunchPad tablet that we talked about in a previous posting, will hit the market tomorrow under the new name JooJoo. The tablet was developed by TechCrunch and FusionGarage but in recent weeks the companies have parted ways and been battling over who owns the intellectual property rights to the device. According to the article, FusionGarage will release the device without TechCrunch however a lawsuit is likely underway.

The tablet was designed as a simple, touch screen LCD device for surfing the web, video chat, and light e-mail, and is said to include a 12.1 inch color touch screen with an on-screen keyboard. According to the CEO of Fusion Garage, Chandra Rathakrishnan, the device can also be used as an e-reader and they are in talks with some “very exciting” companies to bring specially designed content to the device. The article notes that the device has 4 GB of storage to be used solely for storing cached information from the browser but it is not clear if e-books could actually be stored on the device. It is possible that the new digital format for magazines that we discussed yesterday could be made available on this device. The JooJoo is expected to be available online tomorrow and could hit retail shelves in the future.

Magazine publishers form joint venture to create digital format

Last week, Time Inc. released a video demo of an impressive digitized version of a Sports Illustrated issue and All Things Digital reported that the company is working on digital versions of all its magazine titles that are designed to “run on whatever tablet Apple or any[one] else has up their sleeves.”

An article from eSchool News is now reporting that Time, News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp., have formed a joint venture to create a digital format that will work on a variety of devices. The features of the format include those which are demonstrated in the Sports Illustrated video including: the ability to retain the look and layout of the magazine, colorful graphics, videos, games, and social networking capabilities. The companies plan to begin selling content in the new format next year and will target tablet computers, e-readers, and smart phones with color displays. John Squires, the interim managing director for the joint venture, noted that there are devices in development that are suited to the task. In addition, publishers outside of the joint venture will be able to adopt the format.

Amazon to add new features to the Kindle for blind and vision impaired users

On Monday, Amazon announced some good news for blind and vision impaired Kindle users. According to the news release, in the summer of 2010, Amazon will add two new features to the Kindle to make it more useful. The first addition is a font size that is twice the height and width of the current largest font size. The second addition is an audible menu system. The device already features text-to-speech technology but the lack of audible menus makes it difficult for blind users to navigate to the books without assistance. Earlier this year, the National Federation of the Blind urged Amazon to add this feature to the device and in November, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University announced that they would not buy any more Kindle devices until the devices were truly accessible to the blind.

In other Amazon news, Jeff Bezos recently provided some interesting numbers in a New York Times interview. When asked about the percentage of digital books sold, Bezos said, “For every 100 copies of a physical book we sell, where we have the Kindle edition, we will sell 48 copies of the Kindle edition. It won’t be too long before we’re selling more electronic books than we are physical books. It’s astonishing.” Bezos also commented on how quickly paper books are migrating to their digital equivalents. “When we launched Kindle two years ago, it was 90,000 titles, and today it’s more than 350,000. We’re adding thousands of titles every week.”

Hybrid e-readers for textbooks

Over the weekend, The New York Times featured an article about the introduction of hybrid e-readers. Hybrid e-readers like the Entourage eDGe have two screens: a black and white E Ink screen for reading and a color LCD screen for viewing images, videos, and the internet. Textbooks are better suited for hybrid e-readers because color graphics and illustrations that are imperative for certain disciplines do not display on dedicated e-readers. On the eDGe device, the two screens are linked so that a user can select an image from the E Ink screen and view it in color on the LCD screen. Users can also view any animations or videos supplied by the publisher.

The eDGe e-reader will be released in February 2010 and it is currently being piloted at Catholic University of America in Washington DC. Other hybrid devices designed for education will likely follow. For now, many students may continue to read e-textbooks on their laptop but as new technologies are introduced this could change. In the NYT article, Allen Weiner, a research vice president with Gartner, commented that dual-screen devices are likely to find a place in the market as long as they have fairly large screens. He also noted that hybrids provide an advantage over reading e-textbooks on most laptops because students can underline the text directly on screen.

Sony to launch iTunes competitor

Sony has announced that it will launch an online store for music, movies, books, and applications for Sony e-readers, TV’s, and other devices. Sony has not said when the store will launch or what it will look like but an article from BusinessWeek says it will likely be based on Sony’s PlayStation Network that currently sells video games, TV shows, and movies. Another article from Internet Retailers notes that consumers will also be able to upload and share digital content through the online service.

Something fun

With all the e-reader hype, here is a comic that appeared a few months back that readers of this blog might enjoy. It comes from Free Range by Bill Whitehead -- an often amusing comic that reminds me a bit of the old Far Side comic strip. This comic originally appeared on 9-21-2009 and can be found here.

Publishers prepare magazines for tablet

According to All Things Digital, Time Inc. is working on digitized versions of its magazine titles that are designed to “run on whatever tablet Apple or any[one] else has up their sleeves.” Time says that the digital versions will be ready by the middle of next year or before and has released a video demo of a Sports Illustrated issue that is definitely worth watching. The video demonstrates an impressive magazine with interactive videos, graphics, and the ability to share a picture or article with friends via Facebook.

Meanwhile, there are rumors circulating that Time, Conde Nast, and Hearst will form a joint venture to create an “iTunes-like” store for magazines. The store could include over 50 digital magazines that can be read on multiple platforms including Apple and Blackberry devices. An article from The New York Observer notes that if the rumors are true, the joint venture will bring together rival publishers in one of the biggest alliances ever formed in print media. “Each magazine publisher now believes it’s too risky to go it alone to find new ways to get consumers to pay. If they all join together, the reasoning goes, they stand a better chance of producing greater revenue.”

When interactive digital magazines that enhance the print version become available, it will further increase expectations for what digital textbooks should be capable of doing on comparable devices. The availability of such content will also likely further promote netbooks or similar multi-function devices over the mostly single-purpose e-readers on the market today. The willingness of these large competitors to cooperate to save their industry also sends a message about competitive cooperation, or coopetition, that could benefit academic publishers and retailers. Unless we want to see our products and channels go the way of the music, video, and newspaper industries, some creative partnering and solutions are in order.

National Educational Technology Plan

The National Educational Technology Plan website is a good information source that you may want to take a look at. The Technical Working Group that was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to develop the plan is working to create a complete draft by the end of 2009 and has identified four main focus areas that are highlighted on the site - learning, assessment, productivity, and teaching. Users can view and comment on the written resources, technology tools, and exemplary cases that have been submitted in each of the areas and can also recommend additional resources or tools. There are some particularly good data resources regarding the OER movement and K-12 technology trends for anyone interested in these topics. For those that wish to submit comments, the deadline has been extended to Sunday, December 6, 2009.

Bookseller.com releases results of digital survey

Bookseller.com has released the results of a survey of 1,080 professionals from the publishing industry that was conducted at its “FutureBook” Digital Conference in London. The results showed that 88% of respondents believe that bookstores will be the sector most affected by the growth in digital sales. Many respondents noted that despite the change, stores can still benefit. “Everyone will gain by making reading easier and more accessible - and by widening the appeal to younger people (i.e. mobile audiences). High street bookshops need to become service providers for readers - technology, some printed books (e.g. children's books, maps, art books), advice, author readings, seminars, learning centres, event hosts, etc."

In regards to sales, 47% of respondents said that less than 10% of their current sales are from e-books. However, by 2025, 16% of respondents believe that 51% of sales will be from digital content and only 5% believe that digital sales will make up less than 10% of total sales.

When asked about e-readers, 52% respondents said that the rumored Apple device will take the lead in the e-reader market even though the device is not currently on the market and has not been confirmed. Amazon ranked second with Sony farther behind. The posting does not mention if the Barnes & Noble Nook was included in the survey.

Forrester’s predictions for 2010

Forrester recently released ten predictions for the e-reader and e-book market in 2010. The posting is worth a read and includes some interesting predictions to take note of. In regards to e-textbooks, Forrester expects that they will become more accessible next year but 2010 will not be the year that they take off due to the lack of content. “Publishers aren’t ready to relinquish control over how their content is sold and displayed. For example, the publisher-owned CourseSmart has a substantial content catalog for online subscription but isn’t available on portable devices other than iPhones, and won’t be available on new, textbook-optimized devices like the Entourage Edge because of the proprietary format and DRM that CourseSmart uses.”

Forrester also expects that Barnes & Noble will sell a significant number of Nook e-readers but Amazon will maintain its position as market leader by launching a suite of new touch-screen e-readers that could be flexible and include color. “Apps” will also continue to be a growing trend next year and more e-books apps will be available on more devices including e-readers. The posting notes, “We wouldn’t be surprised to see Amazon launch a Kindle app store, too. What kind of apps, you say? We think anything from a social-reading app from Goodreads to an enterprise app from Microsoft or Oracle would make e-readers vastly expand the possibilities for consumers and businesses.” In addition, the U.S. will continue to have the biggest market for e-readers and e-books but other countries such as China, India, Brazil, and Europe will begin to catch up and help drive global growth.

Report predicts e-readers will be a major disruptive technology

A new report from research and advisory firm mediaIDEAS says that e-readers are set to become “one of the major disruptive technologies of the 21st century.” In an interview with Publishing Executive, Nick Hampshire, author of the report, discussed some of the key findings and predictions for the market over the next decade. Hampshire expects that within the next year, the number of e-reader devices on the market will double from the 40+ that are available today. Next year, we will likely see flexible e-readers hit the market and flexible color magazine e-readers could be available in 2013. By 2015, Hampshire expects that, “e-paper e-readers will be employed to display virtually any form of printed content from monochrome text heavy office documents and newspapers to high quality full color magazines and brochures with audio and video components.” By 2020, Hampshire says that the e-reader market will be divided into four categories: e-readers for e-books, foldable e-reader communication devices, e-readers for newspapers, and e-readers for magazines. The first two categories will feature devices with 9-inch displays or smaller while the newspaper and magazine e-readers will have displays over 9-inches.

As for sales, it is predicted that e-reader sales will increase to 6 million units in 2010, to 115 million units in 2013, and then to 446 million units by 2020. Hampshire also commented on how e-readers will influence publishing within the next 10 years. Hampshire said, “With the arrival of high-quality color, low cost, large-screen e-readers within the next few years, we are looking at these devices becoming as ubiquitous as today's cell phone. Whilst people will still be buying and reading content printed on paper in 2020, the bulk of the market for magazine content will be for digital publications primarily viewed on reading devices.”