Kno for Sale?

It appears that Kno, which last year unveiled eponymous single- and dual-screen tablets designed specifically for the education market, is exploring selling off the hardware side of its business. According to this All Things Digital post, the abruptly crowded tablet market—with more than 80 such devices released or announced at CES 2011 in January—convinced Kno execs to tilt all the company’s focus toward its software and services rather than actual devices.

Kno is said to have two consumer electronics manufacturers interested in its hardware business. Although the Kno touchscreen tablets were slated for release toward the end of 2010, only a few hundred preorders were actually filled before Kno recently ceased shipping. The company [ web site states, “You now need an invitation to get a Kno. There aren’t enough to go around.”

The devices’ price tag of $599 for the single-screen and $999 for the dual-screen had raised some doubts about their viability for the higher ed market, so it will be interesting to see what a buyer does with the hardware.

Once any sale is complete, Kno would reportedly use its software, which includes annotation and highlighting capabilities, to serve students via the iPad and tablets employing the Android mobile OS. The company has a “wide range” of existing textbook distribution partnerships with colleges and universities upon which to build, and one of its founders Osman Rashid, co-founder of the textbook-rental company Chegg.

Forum Sees Open Textbooks on a Roll

“Open textbooks are really becoming an imperative. There’s no stopping this momentum.” That was the assessment of Gary Malkin, dean of continuing education, distance learning, and summer session, University of California Irvine, and host of UCI’s Open Textbook Forum on Jan. 26.

The 90-minute forum, captured on video, gave an overview of open course materials to an informal group of educators and administrators. According to Malkin, UCI began building its open courseware site in 2002 and now its academic senate actively encourages faculty to use open materials as much as possible. Some 50 faculty members have contributed so far.

Among the more interesting presentations came from one of those professors. Michael Dennin, who teaches physics, noted that the existence of an alternative to traditionally published textbooks has made faculty more sensitive to what students have to pay for books. And they’re also considering how students will actually use the assigned texts. “Are you going to charge $200 for basically a set of homework problems?” he asked.

In Dennin’s view, open courseware also forces “us to rethink our role as educators” and find ways to bring more value to the course. At the same time, there are considerable challenges—especially the time to assemble materials. Dennin noted he was supposed to turn in a book manuscript for a graduate-level physics book four years ago, and he’s still not done. He and a group of colleagues loved the idea of collaborating on a wiki book, but realized they simply wouldn’t have time.

On the other hand, a presentation by Stephen Carter from MIT’s famed open courseware program, emphasized the benefits to students go beyond reducing costs. Carter said the program has enabled MIT, which has no branch or satellite campuses, to engage with people around the world. Some 93% of MIT’s undergraduates and 85% of graduate students use the open materials.

Carter said it’s also been a great recruiting tool for MIT, (although presumably that advantage will wane as more universities build their own open-source libraries).

E-Books and DRM

Electronic books are easy to use and to buy, but problems arise from incompatible formats in digital rights management technologies and the difficulty in organizing purchased titles. Converting titles to PDF files are often clumsy and the popular ePub format really doesn’t yet allow for seemless cross-platform support to go from one manufacturer’s electronic reader to another. Many devices have versions of ePub files "optimized" for their device. Furthermore, the challenges of understanding the varying forms of DRM is a current weakness of much of the digital course materials market, and further complicates the purchase process for students.

A new study from ABI Research points out that being able to buy content from any source, regardless of the device being used, will drive the digital publishing industry. It could become a concern for the college store trying to provide its customers with a variety of devices for sale. Even the apps created to allow readers to buy on different devices require the appropriate software to read the what they bought.

The ABI Research study suggests consumers need the flexibility to shop at different e-bookstores, just like they do at any other retailer. It also points to the need for consumers to be able to see the titles they’ve purchased in unified fashion on a phone, tablet, a laptop, or PC.

e-books turn 40!

The saying that "Sometimes it takes a long time for change to happen quickly" might best be characterized by the ebook, which turns 40 this year. A great example of how sometimes an innovation is not a bad idea, it just takes a while for the right set of enabling factors to be in place for the technology to gain acceptance or adoption in the marketplace.

Anyway, for an interesting read on the history of the ebook, check out the history page on ebookweek. Note that the next national "Read and ebook week" is coming up on March 6-12, 2011.

Young Readers Starting to Become E-Readers

There have been a number of studies showing that college students continue to prefer using printed books when taking a class, including one from OnCampus Research. However, the OnCampus Research study also added it was a trend that may not last long as younger readers begin to get more familiar with using electronic readers.

Now, the New York Times is reporting that publishers are seeing increases in sales of children’s and young adult e-titles. The article provides details from both HarperCollins and St. Martin’s Press that show jumps in digital sales of young-adults e-books in just the first month of 2011.

One possible explanation for the increase is that price drops in the electronic devices made them attractive for younger readers last Christmas. The Times also suggests K-12 teachers may be getting reports that some K-12 teachers are beginning to allow leisure reading on the devices during homeroom or in English classes.

Mobile Devices Top Trend in Higher Ed Again

Maybe prognosticators figure if they say mobile devices will transform education enough times, it will be so. Or perhaps the 2011 Horizon Report lists it as a game-changer for education for the third straight year because the change will come as users continue to find more ways to utilize their smartphones and now tablets.

The report, from the New Media Consortium and Educause, does note that higher education continues to drag its feet in using mobile technology. It also suggests that use of electronic books will be the trend most likely to affect higher education in the coming year because the issues surrounding academic titles—availability, restrictive publishing models, and rights issues—are being resolved.

The new trends ready to become part of the conversation in the next five years are game-based learning and learning analytics, according to the report. Game-playing offers ways to develop decision-making and problem-solving, as well as using embedded educational content to enhance learning, while learning analytics will allow instructors to tailor courses for each student’s needs and gauge how well students are learning.

The New Media Consortium also designed a social media site to access the materials experts looked at in preparing the report.

Future of e-books or e-textbooks on college campuses

Recently there was a posting on the NACAS listserv that essentially asked the following:

I have been reading and seeing a lot of articles lately regarding the perceived or not, influx of e-books and how they may or may not change the way we handle our textbook business on campus. We are looking at a 5 year plan for our bookstore, and the shift to e-books and increasing textbook rentals seems to be a reoccurring theme.
I am curious how other campuses are looking at e-books and what effect they may have on your bookstore and your students over the next 2, 5, 8, 10 years. If anyone has any thoughts or a crystal ball that might help us shed some light on this vague but fast changing trend, I would appreciate hearing them.

I have some of my thoughts on the topic, but Jeff Nelson from BGSU posted a great response to the inquiry. I have included most of that here with Jeff's permission. Jeff has been very active as a channel steward for the industry, helping other constituencies better understand the realities around textbooks and the college store. This is another example of his thoughtful approach to the topic. Thanks, Jeff!

BTW -- I inserted some of my comments inline to Jeff's [MN:] in a few points.

A crystal ball would be nice, but I can at least offer some insight since I can't predict the future, at least not with any precision. One of the first observations I can make is that there is more hype over ebooks than there is actual impact, at least for today.

It is important to understand that eTextbooks can be very different than the type of eBook you might download to a Kindle. The availability of eTextbooks is still relatively limited, whereas most novels or other contemporary "pleasure reading" books are now automatically made available in electronic form. For example, at BGSU we provide eTextbooks as an alternative to the printed book whenever they are available and that represented only 11% of the book list for the spring semester.

[MN: I agree with this public misperception. Average we see is about 10%, with ranges from 5% to 17% depending on the type of school and particular faculty content choices. Inventory availability is still a barrier, even though that is changing. While most of the largest textbook adoptions nationally might be available in digital formats, most adoptions in general are not. In other words, for most college campuses, on average about 90% of the titles selected by faculty do not have a digital option available yet.]

Another misperception is that not all eTextbooks are created equal for many reasons. Most consumers don't realize that a textbook can have many copyright holders and not all of those copyrights permit electronic distribution. So every chart, graph or photograph can be a different copyright holder and if permission to distribute electronically is not granted, that ebook may have a "placeholder" that states the illustration isn't available. And many of the eTextbook titles are simply a PDF-type version of the printed book and have limited functionality which depends upon the eBook reader software, as opposed to being "digital native" where you can have more robust content and interaction.

The hardware options can also have an effect upon the adoption. Because there is not a well-defined eTextbook device yet (like a Kindle), the students will typically use a laptop or desktop to either download the book to the computer or access it via the internet which requires network connectivity. Our CIO expects "tablets" (think iPad) to have a 40% penetration this fall and that could have a big effect on eTextbooks.

[MN: Wow. 40%? That would be a scary adoption rate. Nationally we saw 8% this past fall, and anticipate maybe 15% this spring (currently collecting data). 40% by fall seems agressive to me, but possible (and scary). Laptops are still the predominant tool students use to download digital course materials.

Another challenge though is availability of content per device. Consider this: ebooks are currently available in the following formats (at a minimum): .Lit, .mobi, AZW, PDB, FB2, PDF, RTF, BBeB, EPUB, HTML, RB, CHM, and OEB. DRM standards include: MS Reader, Adobe Adept, eReader, Mobi, Apple FairPlay, DNL, and several others. The buying decision for students to know what they are getting when they buy a particular digital book requires more education than buying a print book. Not all digital files are created equal.]

Finally, there is the price and this area is the subject of many debates. We all know the traditional printed new textbooks can be very expensive. If the average savings for an electronic version of that same book is 50%, it may sound like a good deal. However, we consider what I call the "net cost of ownership" which factors in the upfront cost and the resale value.

Let me give an example of how the pricing works. If a new textbook is $100 and it is reordered for the following term, the student can usually sell it back at the end of the term for $50 (or more online) and that brings the net cost down to $50, about the same as an eBook. Not only can eTextbooks not be sold back, many have a license that expires after one or two semesters, unlike the book you buy for your Kindle which is yours for life.

So, how does this compare to other alternatives? If the same student above bought the printed book as a used book, they would probably pay $75 (maybe less on the internet) and could get the same amount at the end of the term, bringing their net cost down to just $25. If they rented that book, they would have received the savings up front and paid a net cost of about $40, but still need to turn it in at the end.

So, that is the current landscape, but let me give you some hard numbers. Although 11% of the BGSU book list is available in electronic form, ebooks represented just 0.1% for this past fiscal year and we have been selling ebooks since 2005. That quadrupled for the spring semester to 0.4%, but a fourfold increase of a very small number is still a very small number. Contrast that with rental textbooks which represented just 0.3% of sales for last year, but increased to 7.4% of sales for the spring semester. The rental results may not be typical because we took a very aggressive position for the spring because of increasing competition.

I"m not sure anyone really knows when eTextbooks will take off, but it is safe to say that they will at some point in the future. It isn't unusual for technology trends to double, then double again and continue until there is a wide adoption which means it could happen very fast. For this reason, it is very important for college stores to be "in the game" and selling ebooks. Even if the penetration is not there today, it will be in the future once the stars align and so we need to be ready.

[MRN: Also, the titles where adoption is likely to happen the fastest are in the large-adoption areas, creating a disproportionate effect. This is one reason the rental number shift had such a big impact in a short time as that model matured quickly.]

We are also watching related technology trends closely and have expanded our technology presence significantly in terms of selling the devices that may empower students to more readily adopt ebooks. All it takes is one game changing move like Apple expanding the iBookstore to include eTextbooks and the landscape can change amazingly fast. Right now the rage is rental textbooks, but that can change.

The final comment I will make is that the suggestion made by another member to conduct some research is a solid idea and if it can be expanded to include rental textbooks, that would be even better. Because I am passionate about the topic of "textbook affordability" I follow these topics closely, but I have more questions than I do answers.

I know this is a lot to think about, but I hope the readers of this thread will find it useful information. As I said, it represents the experience we have had at our institution, but that is not necessarily indicative of the entire collegiate retail industry.

Lots to think about -- but a good perspective in the store voice.

Interesting new video

Here is an interesting video from MBS Direct / Xplana that is worth viewing. It reminds me of some of the Michael Wesch videos in some ways. Great piece on students, social networking, and technology. I would like to know the source of some of the stats, unfortunately, none of the stats in the video are cited that I saw. Good video though -- definitely worth a watch. Enjoy!

Kindle Adding Page Numbers, Note-Sharing

Kindles may soon be sporting some new features that address short-comings raised by the higher education market. According to Amazon's recent posting on the Kindle Daily Post blog, software updates for the Kindle and Kindle 3G will enable e-books to display page numbers that correspond to the same pages in the print edition of the book.

That may seem like a relatively minor improvement to some, but higher-ed researchers need to be able to provide publication pages when they cite sources for a paper or book. Right now they can’t do that with an e-book.

Even more importantly, the page numbering feature may make the Kindle more attractive for classroom use. Some college bookstores have reported their professors asked them not to make e-books available for their textbook adoptions because the lack of page numbers creates problems in making sure the class is literally on the same page. With the updated Kindle, students could use either print or e-book versions and remain in sync, page-wise.

As another new feature, the Kindle upgrade will also allow users to share their book annotations and highlights with other Kindle users.

--

Additional commentary:

I once read that page numbers did not emerge as a concept in printed books until about 40 years after the printing press had become commercially viable. At the time, it was the scholarly community who identified the need. While Amazon's page numbering development has already been accomplished by others in the space, the development does signal two things. First, that we will continue to adapt current and new technologies to past ways of doing things. Perhaps there is a better way to cite a reference than the print-page equivalent. Second, it seems that Amazon is working to address short-comings in the Kindle identified by the higher ed market, and so they may still have plans in the work for a new reader or other technology that will support textbook users in the future.

E-tailers Ready to Increase Tech Budgets

Online retailers are making plans to increase their technology budgets this year, according to Forrester Research’s 2011 Online Retail Technology Investment Outlook, which polled 63 U.S. e-tailers about their technology investment priorities for the year.

Integration with back-end systems for order management and accounting systems was the leading priority, up to 63.5% from 31.6% a year ago. More than half of the respondents are considering investment in mobile commerce, while another 24% plan to upgrade their e-commerce platforms in the next 18 months.

Site usability and design are another area of importance, with 70% of the e-tailers responding saying it will be an area of concern for 2011.

Apple Keeps Grip on App Store Purchases

The New York Times’ report that Apple declined to approve the Sony Reader e-book app because in-app sales wouldn’t go through Apple sparked much hand-wringing in tech circles. Many felt Apple’s move would encompass not only the Sony Reader app, but also Kindle and Nook apps for the iPad, iPhone, and the iPod touch.

Then, blogger John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal reported an official statement from Apple claiming no change has been made to its guidelines for developers, but that it will now require apps to offer customers the ability to purchase items both outside the app and within the app.

The change is already in place for customers who buy through iTunes, allowing Apple to earn a cut for facilitating the purchase without forcing all content to be bought through iTunes. This means Amazon, for instance, can still sell content through its web site or Kindle device, but iOS Kindle app users will have to sync purchases to their iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and Apple will get a cut of the proceeds.

The question now is how will Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony respond? It’d be hard for a company such as Amazon to back away from the iOS platform now, particularly with its “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” promotional campaign. It would also be difficult to build a new sales site that allows customers to buy both from Apple and Amazon, or from Apple alone.

Sony posted a note on its web site saying it’s trying to find other ways to work with Apple, including avoiding the App Store commission altogether.

Initial College Evaluation of iPad Favorable

Reed College, Portland, OR, was among seven institutions nationwide to participate in the Amazon Kindle DX pilot program in 2009 that found the device didn’t meet “the needs of higher education in terms of being an alternative to paper.” Martin Ringle, the school’s chief technology officer, then put the Apple iPad through the same paces and found quite a difference, as noted in this Campus Technology piece.

Ringle and his team at Reed College are preparing a white paper detailing their results, including a test to measure the level of distraction from the iPad compared to a laptop or desktop computer. Since the 1960s, Reed has had a strong reputation for adopting technology after careful analysis, so its findings carry some weight around the nation.

The college isn’t yet ready to make every student come to class with an iPad, but is working on getting more input from faculty and students. After that, it plans to look into cloud computing using the same step-by-step approach.

Whither Print Communication?

The following article appeared in the January 2011 MACS Newsletter -- page 10. It is short and worth sharing. Reprinted here with permission from the newsletter and author. Also, Peter suggested that as a postscript, I note the recent news published in many locations that ebook sales have now surpassed paperback book sales. Amazon sold 115 ebooks last year for every 100 paperback books, and 3 times as many ebooks as hardbacks. That is total for the year, not just Q4.


WHITHER PRINT COMMUNICATION?


By Dr. Peter Mires
Manager, Delaware Tech, Georgetown Campus


We‘ve been hearing for some time now about the decline and demise of the printed word. Newspaper circulations are dropping to unsustainable levels, e-book sales at Amazon have eclipsed their hardcover list, and even some school libraries, such as Cushing Academy, a private prep school in the Boston area, have gone digital.


Digital delivery makes sense for many reasons, not the least of which is cost. After all, who buys print reference ma-terials such as encyclopedias, atlases, and almanacs anymore? This information is available online. Aside from arguments that Internet sites have issues of ques-tionable authenticity and ―inappropriate‖ sites abound, educators know that excel-lent databases (e.g., Tennessee Elec-tronic Library, EBSCOhost) are out there.


Those of us in the college store industry are aware of this trend. You‘ve proba-bly seen scenarios like online access codes, which used to be considered an-cillary, replace textbooks, or instructors put more material on e-learning plat-forms like Blackboard. Doubtless these and other changes have you wondering about the future of your store and how to adapt.


Allow me to relate a personal experi-ence. I recently published a print-on-demand book (entitled Bayou Built: The Legacy of Louisiana’s Historic Architecture), which is available in both print and digi-tal formats. The digital version is 37 percent less expensive and my royalty is 40 percent greater. The reason is sim-ple: there are no associated printing, shipping, and handling costs.


I confess that I don‘t own an e-reader, like Amazon‘s Kindle or Barnes & No-ble‘s Nook, preferring instead to hold an actual book. Call me old school, Lud-dite, or what have you, but I‘m able to separate trend from tradition. Like it or not, the printed page is for the most part obsolete; it will eventually go the way of my Olympia manual typewriter. I have fond memories of pulling ―all-nighters‖ in college hammering out papers on that durable device, but the writing, so to speak, was on the wall in the early 1980s when personal computers became widely available.


Textbooks, the traditional bread-and-butter of the college bookstore, are go-ing digital. Everyone seems to agree that our bi-annual book rushes will no longer be synonymous with trucks ap-pearing at our loading docks with pallets of boxes. The college bookstore of the foreseeable future is increasingly partici-patory in e-commerce.


It is not without a tinge of sadness or nostalgia that I witness this transition. But, who among us would type when the rest of the world is keyboarding?

Store Options with a changing distribution chain

There was a good piece in the MACS 2011 newsletter on the "truth about course materials" and how stores can remain a part of the distribution chain written by Allyson Manet from Cengage. As stores see shifts away from traditional media and channels to new products and approaches, Allyson suggests some strategies to move stores towards competing better with online competition.

While she does not say it directly, part of the implied message is that booksellers must look above the day-to-day activities of store operations to think strategically about their present and their future. I once heard this referred to as the "tyranny of the tactical," but thinking strategically is critically important for the survival of an organization in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Among Allyson's more direct suggestions to stores are:

1. Be comprehensive -- serving as a reliable aggregator of course materials information is one of the core advantages for most stores. If students require something to be successful in the classroom, you should be able to provide it.

2. Be Reliable -- ensure that what students get from your store is what they really need to be successful in the classroom. Allyson points to a recent NACS study that shows confidence that they are buying the right product ranks almost as high to students as price as they decide where to buy their course materials. Reliability is also a traditioanl core strength of campus stores.

3. Be Flexible -- students will search. You capture more sales when you make more options available. Rental and e-books are no longer an option. At the same time, using price comparison is essential, because students will do that anyway and lack of transparency on the part of the store both erodes trust and pushes customers to look elsewhere before they make their buying decision. At that point you must work to get them back. Flexibility is a core strength that stores need to embed within their DNA.

4. Be Noticeable -- many students are not aware of the options stores provide. One NACS study found that nearly half of students did not know if the campus store provided e-books or not. Stores cannot assume awareness on the part of students or faculty in terms of the services they provide or the benefits they return to the student and institutional community. Stores must be increasingly proactive in their marketing communications and conduct awareness campaigns.

POD v offset and the relation to inventory

E-read had a good piece recently asking the question, are PODs ebooks? With more stores and libraries engaging in print-on-demand (POD) activity, there may be some interest in the perspective and few data points presented.

The piece has a good contrast and comparison between offset printing (characterized as an approach of the past) and POD (characterized as an approach for the future). And it includes links to a two part discussion on "a future without inventory" that is also worth reading. (See Part 1 and Part 2).

Book recommendation

As I have done occasionally in the past, in the year ahead I will try to include some book recommendations for those of us in the book business. I will admit in advance that many of these are going to deal with innovation or competing changing markets.

My first book recommendation is Practically Radical by William C. Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company magazine. The book is about fixing what is wrong with our organizations -- and if you are in an established, mature business where you are still doing things the way you have always done them -- odds are pretty good that there are few things ripe for fixing. There is an old Japanese saying I always liked that goes something like, "There is nothing so good that it can't be improved." The book is about thinking ahead, renewal, and inspiring creativity. In an article about his book Taylor writes about 10 questions every game changer must answer. (And who in our business cannot afford to be a game changer at some level these days?) I will list the 10 questions here, as I think they are good ones to think about, and will encourage you to read the article to learn more. I have created some additions/edits to the questions in brackets.

1. Do you see opportunities the competition doesn't see? [And what opportunities does your competition see that you don't?]

2. Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?

3. Are you the most of anything? [Sort of the "Good-to-Great question -- have you settled for mediocrity or do you strive for excellence?]

4. If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would miss you and why?

5. Have you figured out how your organization's history can help to shape its future? [Reminds me of the question -- do you know what business you are really in? Hint: It is not selling books.]

6. Do you have customers who can't live without you? [He notes: if they can, they probably will.]

7. Do your people care more than the competition?

8. Are you getting the best contributions from the most people?

9. Are you consistent in your commitment to change?

10. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

PDF security weakness noted

Given that many e-textbooks are still distributed in a .pdf format, or given that according to a recent BISG study as many as 40% of students pirate their textbooks (or have friends that do), the following recent news piece should give some pause to students acquiring textbooks in .pdf formats, and the publishers who produce them.

A MSNBC story reports that PDFs are now the number one vehicle for for web-based attacks. The story notes that currently e-readers are safe but that could change as more content moves to those devices and the devices take on more processing and multi-function capability (like the iPad and other tablets). Students should watch to make sure that textbooks they acquire in pdf format come from trusted sources, as the article notes that "spear-phishing" (targeted and personal attacks to a user from a known source) are a common method used in some of the .pdf-related malicious attacks.

Google and the e-book/e-reader market

Expectations that Google will soon enter the tablet and e-reader space continue. The company's recent acquisition of EBook Technologies fuels this speculation, as noted in one article that details the acquisition. Google's ebookstore, their recent partnership with the ABA, and other initiatives to help make local book retailers more visible in searches, suggest that Google could be a friend to book retailers in a way other large online sources for books are not. There is an opportunity here for retailers to capitalize on what Google could do for them to both retain and regain market share.

The question will be, perhaps, whether booksellers enamored of older print technologies will be nimble and open enough to take advantage of some of the opportunities presented by new technologies -- or if they will buy into the conventional wisdom that the local bookseller will go the way of the local music store. As one of my colleagues in the bookstore industry is fond of saying, "Some folks will drown because when you throw them a life preserver they want one that is square or blue, rather than the one that you are throwing them that happens to be round or yellow."

Students prefer print to digital

Yet another study found that roughly 75% of students prefer print to digital. The recent BISG study, Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education, mirrors similar earlier findings by both the Student PIRGs and NACS. The NACS data went beyond this particular finding to ask if student preference for print over digital was their primary reason not to buy digital. The NACS data saw a significant shift in recent years away from this preference being the primary reason not to buy -- with the availability of digital inventory and faculty preference and usage of print over digital quickly growing among the top reasons why students choose to buy print over digital.

Among other interesting stats from the BISG study 60% of students say they place a high value on their textbooks, and roughly 65% of those are still buying their textbooks from the college store. While promising, this does suggest significant loss of market share among college stores over the past decade. In fact the BISG study found that 20% of students are buying their textbooks from Amazon.com, and more than 40% said they bought a textbook from a pirate site or know others who have. Price and convenience are key drivers in this shift -- similar to the factors that initially stimulated piracy in the music industry.

Regardless, these data points should be leading collegiate retailers to ask some tough questions about their product mix, the return of revenues, market share retention, and how they compete online.

Ebooks by the numbers...

Some of the interesting stats in this month's Book Business Magazine:

• A study by Bain & Co. study concluded that the publishing industry will make a smoother transition to digital than the music industry did. It found that most digital readers are willing to pay for their digital content, perhaps discounting fears around content piracy. The study predicted that approximately 15-25 percent of book sales would be in digital formats by 2014, which is consistent with other projections in narrower college store market as well.
• Roughly 64% of publishers are now offering content in e-book or other digital formats, up 11% from the prior year according to a study by Aptara. However, nearly two thirds of those publishers do not know how to calculate the ROI of their e-book initiatives. E-reader/content compatibility is ranked as the top challenge for publishers.
• Finally, mobile advertising is expected to grow past US$2B this year, with Google currently controlling roughly 59% of that space.

The question for retailers regarding whether or not digital matters seems to be less of the question these days. Just as sales are now moving beyond just being online, to being online and mobile. This, of course, has implications for institutions, students, and others as content begins to not only shift to digital, but also shift to increasingly mobile platforms.

Update on Kno and Other Tablets

The School Library Journal had a recap and video clip from CES this year focused on the Kno. The Kno was unveiled last year as a tablet designed specifically for education. Initially something of a disappointment, the company has come a long way. Kno is a spin-out of Chegg, the textbook rental company. While textbook rentals have existed on a number of college campuses for more than 40 years, it is really Chegg's entry to the market less than 3 years ago which has led to the dramatic adoption of rental as a standard business model across the U.S. textbook market. With preliminary content from some of the largest textbook publishers, it will be interesting to watch where Kno goes in the coming year and how the company will chose to work with educational institutions and the college store community. The School Library Journal provides some additional updates on the device.

The journal also has another story on tablets and CES this month. The piece covers a range of the devices and discusses their implications for education and text.

January EBook Recap

Teleread's list of "what has happened in ebooks" this month has some interesting links, stats and topics. It is a great, short list with a range of interesting links and updates.

Publishers optimistic about year ahead

According to this month's edition of Book Business Magazine publishers expect the online retail channel for books to continue to expand this year for both print and digital. Brick-and-morter booksellers are perceived to be at something of a disadvantage as we pass the point where over half of all books are now sold online. At least one of the publishers within the educational space reported that as much as 45-56 percent of their revenue now comes from digital products (including journals and other products beyond textbooks, but even the latter has seen growth). There seems to be a consistent view forward that sales will be increasingly on mobile devices, and that digital content sales will grow rapidly, and will see the introduction of a number of new formats and variations, including more custom possibilities, over the next few years.

See the current issue for a range of other interesting stories.

Kindle Singles

One of the highlights in last week's digital news was the announcement of Amazon's new "Kindle Singles." The idea is a short work limited to at most 30k words, but well-researched. One of the more interesting aspects is one of the first ever books published by TED -- the site and conference which has the inspiring and thought provoking videos and content.

The concept is an interesting one -- and moves Amazon into a unique content-production business that could be viewed as a first step into new forms of competition for publishers, and begins to change the author-publisher dynamic for certain types of work. I will admit, it is the first real content or development that has made me consider downloading the Kindle app to one of my devices.

To be fair, the concept is not entirely new, though. I see similarities to the "Nooners" and "Spicy Briefs" concepts pioneered more by publishers like Harlequin a couple years ago. That is -- recognizing that there is a niche for short works on a topic or by a favorite author, that can be delivered digitally on demand, and which might be used to drive demand for additional short works, or additional longer works by the same author. It will be interesting to watch where these pieces will go in the future.

Pressure to Use Classroom Tech May Yield Opposite Results

Students tend to learn many new technologies by just playing around with them on their own time. As it turns out, that may also be the best way for educators to become comfortable with technology and more willing to incorporate it into coursework and classroom instruction. At least that’s the view of Rushton Hurley, who leads the Next Vista for Learning project, a library of free online videos produced by teachers and their students.

In this interview with T.H.E. Journal, Hurley discusses how teachers—in an all-too-human reaction—are more likely to turn their noses up at new technologies when their use is mandated by school administration. Like students forced to complete an unpleasant assignment, teachers pressed to master new tech will do just the minimum to get by.

But when administrators back away and give instructors the freedom to monkey around with applications and hardware as they see fit, they’ll try a few things here and there. More importantly, Hurley notes, teachers will support and encourage each other if they have opportunities to share their technology experiences and learn from others’ trial and error.

Crowd Accelerated Innovation

There was an interesting piece by Chris Anderson not long ago in Wired on the concept of "Crowd Accelerated Innovation." He uses specific examples of how video can speed up innovation by "creating new global communities, granting their members both the means and the motivation to step up their skills and broaden their imaginations." He goes on to write how things like videos are

... unleasing an unprecedented wave of innovation in thousands of different disciplines: some trivial, some niche in the extreme, some central to solving humnanity's problems. In short, it is boosting the net sum of global talent. It is helping the world get smarter.

A tall order perhaps -- but the idea is intriguing, particularly as we look at the role of students today in creating new content. What impact will that have on the future of course materials and learning? Will today's students turn tomorrow's learning models (and the key players) on their heads by redefining what could be? Perhaps it is a trend to be dismissed, but remember, radical change typically comes from a quarter that no one expects, and we are still in the early stages of thinking about how video and other multimedia technologies can really change things. Maybe there is another reason to watch the growth of the video movement than just pure entertainment.

iPad pilots to replace textbooks

The iPad pilots at University of Notre Dame, where professor Corey Angst is experimenting with replacing printed books with the devices, continues to get press coverage. This week there are two items worth reading about the experiments:

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed

A Wall Street Journal blog posting

While a fair number of institutions are experimenting with the iPad and comparable technologies, Notre Dame continues to gather more attention. The WSJ posting had a link to a video from Corey's class:

Self-Paced E-Learning Expected to Boom

State budget cuts in education and other financial constraints prompted by the recession are pushing more preK-12 schools to replace classroom instruction with online and electronic courseware products and services that children can use at their own pace, according to a new study by Ambient Insight].

The U.S. Market for Self-Paced eLearning Products and Services: 2010-2015 Forecast and Analysis study examined both web-based products and services as well as tangible media, such as DVDs. The study predicted self-paced electronic instruction will rise 16.8% in the preK-12 market by 2015.

As schools cut teaching staff, more are turning to self-paced systems for such programs as summer school or remedial classes. Schools used to reserve self-paced learning for specialized courses or to accommodate students in remote locations, but an increasing number are now experimenting with self-paced learning in core subjects.

Self-paced e-learning is also expected to grow in higher education. The Ambient study noted the hi-ed market would probably ramp up to become the No. 2 consumer of self-paced e-learning products by 2015, right behind the corporate market. At present, however, hi-ed institutions are more interested in installing lecture capture systems.

Textbook rental programs proliferating on campus

Last fall, 2,200 college stores reported offering textbook rental programs, up from only 300 just a year earlier, according to OnCampus Research, a division of NACS.

Demand for lower textbook prices from both consumers and legislators has spurred college stores to explore new ways of doing business. By renting, students generally pay only 33%-55% of the full price of a textbook.

Based on the results of their initial forays, two-thirds of the stores participating in the OnCampus survey said they plan to expand their rental offerings. Of the responding stores that didn’t offer a rental program, 43% said they plan to launch one. In addition, another 200 chain-managed college stores will add rental programs for the spring semester.

"This means that almost 2,400 college stores are currently offering textbook rentals, and more than 3,000 should be offering textbook rental by next fall,” says Charles Schmidt, NACS director of public relations.

Washington State’s online-course effort faces hurdles

The Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges has launched the Open Course Library, a program of low-cost, online course materials intended to save money both for the almost half a million students using Washington State’s 34 two-year colleges and for the state legislature, which pays a large chunk of the textbook costs for those on state financial aid. The first lot of OCL course modules begins classroom testing this month.

But as this Chronicle of Higher Education article notes, some of the course designers encountered unexpected difficulties while sifting through the available open content, some of which is outdated and little of which is geared to learners at the community-college level. Not topping the mandated $30 price cap for course materials is also proving problematic in many cases, especially where primary sources or supplementary materials are necessary.

However, if Washington can make the Open Course Library work, other states will likely jump on it as a template for their own cost-saving efforts.

Mobile retailing blueprint

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has come out with version 2.0 of the Mobile Retailing Blueprint. This is a product of NRF's mobile retail initiative and was produced with input from a range of retailers, vendors, analysts and standards organizations. It details both opportunities for consumers and retailers and provides retailers with concrete examples and useful information for crafting a mobile commerce strategy.

The NRF's mobile retail initiative aims to serve as a "catalyst for mobile-inspired innovation that enhances the retail shopping experience and improves internal business processes." In addition to providing definitions and simple examples, the document provides a number of lessons learned and best practices from current adopters of mobile commerce technology.

With mobile commerce becoming more common in the higher education environment, and globally, retailers (particularly collegiate retailers) would be well advised to peruse the document or begin thinking about a mobile strategy for both commerce and content. With changes in the collegiate retailing environment, this could be viewed as "one more thing" on top of crafting social networking strategies, content strategies, device strategies, and other issues. Like those others it will be increasingly difficult to remain viable in the future without thinking about some of the associated challenges and begin formulating some strategy.

The NRF document is a good place to start. As we move through 2011 and into 2012, NACS and some of its subsidiaries (particularly NACS Media Solutions) will also begin to offer more education and information to help stores with the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Trial and Error in the K-12 Classroom

A number of K-12 schools are experimenting with the use of laptops, netbooks, and tablets as standard classroom tools, even to the point of replacing print books with the hardware. But, some schools are finding it’s a mixed bag, as this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel shows. Students love the “cool” factor but it is not clear if computers are actually helping them learn better, and schools don’t necessarily save money on course materials.

And the article inadvertently highlights why the publishing industry is skittish about e-books: One youngster who lost his paperback “finds” the novel online and therefore is able to keep up with the class. Problem is, The Lord of the Flies isn’t yet in the public domain (and will not be for nearly 40 more years), so the boy is apparently accessing an illegally pirated copy.

Update on Open Access

Peter Suber from SPARC has produced his annual summary of global developments in the open access movement. While he notes he has greatly summarized the details providing only "highlights" and left many items out, it is still an excellent review -- and has links to prior years reviews and other resources. Here is a sampling from the 'highlights from the highlights:"

3. The University of California. For standing up to an unaffordable 400% price increase on its site license from the Nature Publishing Group. For using its unrivaled bargaining power, especially against a publisher with its own unrivaled bargaining power. For pushing back with an effect that smaller institutions simply could not hope to have. (Today, however, the actual effect is still unknown.) For acting decisively in the interests of research, researchers, and research institutions, and not leaving publishers to be the only players in this game who act decisively in their own interests. For inspiring other institutions to voice a common grievance and take concerted action.

2. The EUR-OCEANS Consortium. For adopting the largest consortial OA mandate ever (covering 29 organizations in 15 countries) and the first consortial OA mandate for organizations other than universities. For a giant step that should inspire other giant steps.

1. The 38 new funder OA mandates in 17 countries (Section 1) and --depending on how you count-- the 72-105 green OA university mandates in 15 countries (Section 2). For giving us a year in which we averaged more than three funder mandates and 6-9 university mandates every month. For preserving and extending the momentum. For bring us closer to the new normal in which research institutions routinely put the interests of knowledge-sharing ahead of the interests of knowledge-enclosure.

Mobile + computer = potential higher ed win

While this BlogU posting from Inside Higher Ed doesn’t view the announcement of 70-plus new tablet devices as “the” big story on the education front from CES 2011, it does rave over the Motorola Atrix Android phone and docking system.

The laptop-like docking station acts as keyboard, screen, and battery, with the Atrix providing the OS, memory, and networking—as well as the user’s files, images, videos, and music. All computing occurs on the Atrix. The combination renders the smartphone vastly much more suitable for classroom use.

“The Atrix is a step closer to the dream of a full computer in a mobile device,” states the BlogU post, adding, “…All of a sudden, the mobile device becomes both a consumption and production tool.”

November ebook sales stats

The latest ebook stats are out from IDPF:

According to sales statistics compiled by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), trade eBook wholesale sales from reporting publishers were $46.6M for November 2010, a 129.8% increase over November 2009 ($20.3M), and an increase of 14.5% over the the prior month of October 2010 ($40.7M). Calendar Year to Date sales (11 months) increased 165.3% from $147.9M in 2009 to $392.4M in 2010.

Note that the usual caveats to this data apply -- specifically around the number of publishers contributing data. These numbers are typically seen as a conservative estimate.

Statistics, historical data and information about eBook sales can be viewed at: http://www.idpf.org/doc_library/industrystats.htm (NOTE: the IDPF website is being revamped and this page will not be updated until the new site is launched later this quarter).

Looking for a few good tablets at CES

This turned out to be the Year of the Tablet at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, with as many as 80 different devices launched, all hoping to become the iPad-killer. None are available at this point and some don’t even exist yet. Most will drop by the wayside. (Remember how many e-readers debuted at last year’s CES? How many of them are still viable concerns?)

This InformationWeek special report culls the herd to pinpoint the new devices that, at first glance, seem to have the best shot at competing seriously with Apple’s tablet.

University presses add e-books to stay in the game

To position themselves as scholarly alternatives to Google Book Search’s 12 million-book archive, university presses and academic content aggregators, acting singly or in partnerships, are rushing to create or expand repositories for digital long-form texts. As detailed in this Inside Higher Ed article, JSTOR, the University Press eBook Consortium (UPeC), and Oxford University Press have all recently announced projects aimed at preserving their revenue streams from scholarly content and keeping themselves from being marginalized by the search giant.

Since these groups will target college and university libraries, rather than individual consumers, via the sale of access licenses, they won’t present any actual direct competition to Google. The addition of e-texts to their archives will, as one university press director noted, enable academics to cut through the “fog” of nonscholarly content that results from any Google Books search. With college stores representing a significant portion of University Press sales, perhaps there are ways for the two constituencies to work together on some of these initiatives.

Three R's begin with i

While watching the list of school closings this morning, there was an interesting story on about the use of iPads in one of the local schools. Each of the students in the fifth grade class has been given an iPad. Here are a couple of the more interesting quotes from the story:

The teacher [Bizan] says iPads have improved student performance in spelling and math and student attendance is up.

"It makes people want to learn. It makes people want to come to school," said Rachel Lyman, a fifth grader.

Bizan says about 75 percent of his instruction takes place on the iPad now and he expects in the not-too-distant-future that'll be 100 percent.

Of course, my favorite quote -- or perhaps the one which is most telling, is the following from the classroom teacher:

"Five to six years from now, or 10 years from now, textbooks, I see them being gone and being on some kind of device," said Bizan.

You can find the story transcript or watch the video clip online on our local news station's site.

What College Students Think

Coming up in February the Book Industry Study Group (BISG) will be hosting a half-day conference in NYC entitled What College Students Think: Making Information Pay for Higher Ed Publishing. The focus will be on the changing needs of college students around course materials.

Julie Traylor (who leads OnCampus Research for NACS) and I will be presenting. However, in addition to speakers, the event will feature an exclusive preview into the findings from BISG's recent student survey: Student Attitudes Toward Content in Higher Education. The survey provides a new look into how students currently enrolled in 2-year, 4-year and for-profit institutions perceive and use different types of educational materials in their course of study.

Kelly Gallagher, Vice President of Publishing Services for Bowker commented that "The timeliness of this event, and the relevance of the data presented, will help academic publishers walk away with tangible insights into these areas." The same is likely true for those of us working in the college store industry, or using textbooks in the classroom.

I hope to see some of you there, and we will report back.

Digital publishers and consumers not on the same page

Publishers run significant risks for their future if they don’t bring their approaches to digital content into better alignment with consumer expectations and desires. A Harrison Group survey of 476 publishing professionals and more than 1,800 consumers indicates a wide gap between those two groups when it comes to digital content management, distribution, and intellectual property.

Seventy-four percent of publishers said they prefer a traditional, subscription-based model for digital content, an option preferred by only 13% of consumers. The vast majority of consumers would rather obtain content under a new model, whether unlimited access for a set price, micropayments for smaller chunks, purchase of single copies, or credits that draw down as content is accessed. Consumers also expect to be able to share content freely with other users and among a variety of devices, including e-readers, smartphones, and tablets.

Thanks to Liz

Thank you to Liz Hains for her contributions to The CITE over the past 2 years. Liz has increasingly handled most of the blog postings and was a great member of our team. Her contributions helped the blog grow past the 50k reader point this year.

Liz was offered and accepted a position with another organization that will be an excellent career move for her. While we search for a replacement, and with the pending holidays, there will be fewer posts for a few weeks. I want to take this opportunity to thank our loyal readers and welcome readers new to the blog.

There are many things happening in this space and with this change in staffing we are looking at a number of opportunities and ways to increase the value of this blog in the year ahead. While postings may be sparse for the next two weeks, we plan to get back up to regular posting speed after the new year. Best wishes to all for the holidays.

-M

October 2010 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for October 2010 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). Trade e-book sales were $40.7 million, a 112.4% increase over October 2009. AAP reports year-to-date e-book sales are up 171.3%. Note: These figures represent the trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data.

Gartner’s e-reader predictions

An article from ElectronicsWeekly.com discusses some stats from a new Gartner study. Gartner predicts that e-reader sales will reach 6.6 million units in 2010, an increase of 79.8 percent from 2009. In 2011, sales could surpass 11 million units which would be a 68.3 percent increase from 2010.

Gartner says that e-readers will need to maintain a price advantage because few consumers are likely to buy both an e-reader and a tablet.

iPad pilots at CDI College and the University of Houston

An article from Campus Technology discusses the iPad pilots that are occurring at CDI College in Canada and the University of Houston in Texas. At CDI College, the iPad pilot aims to help students in the nursing and business programs develop technology skills for their future roles in the workplace. At the University of Houston, professors have developed an iPad app for a communications course that includes: learning modules, video lectures, course materials, presentations, tutorials, and simulations. The pilot aims to obtain feedback for a program that helps faculty integrate technology into the curriculum. In addition, a survey will be conducted to evaluate the impact of the devices on learning, class attendance, and study habits.

More information about the pilots can be found here.

Children’s Reading Trends in the Digital Age

On Tuesday, December 14th, Book Business will be hosting a free webinar that you may find interesting. The webinar is called: “Children’s Reading Trends in the Digital Age: An All-Access Pass to Scholastic’s ‘2010 Kids and Family Reading Report.’”

The registration page for the webinar can be found here.

Interview with James McQuivey, Forrester Research

The Beyond the Book website features an interesting discussion with James McQuivey, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, about the events that have occurred in the publishing industry over the last year and what we can expect in the future as e-readers and e-books take off.

The audio of the discussion is available here.

Apple and News Corp to create digital newspaper for iPad only

According to a posting on Mashable.com, Apple and News Corp are preparing to launch The Daily, a news publication that will only be available via an app on the iPad. The publication is expected to launch in early 2011 and could provide consumers with a new type of reading experience that incorporates video and utilizes the iPad’s sophisticated technical capabilities. This could give the publication capabilities beyond what other newspapers and websites currently offer.

Smartphones and tablets will become mainstream in 2011

The IDC research firm has released a new report that includes sales predictions for smartphones and tablets. According to a posting on the NY Times Bits Blog, IDC predicts that in 2011 the devices will become mainstream and there will be 330 million smartphones and 42 million tablets sold worldwide. IDC also says that half of the 2.1 billion people who regularly use the Internet will access it from non-PC devices next year.

Online enrollments continue to exceed overall higher education enrollments

An article from Campus Technology discusses the results from research regarding online education that was conducted by Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, and was funded by The Sloan Consortium. The groups have been conducting research since 2002 and this year’s survey included 2,500 colleges and universities across the U.S. The survey found that online enrollments continue to grow substantially faster than overall higher education enrollments. The results show that 5.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online course during the fall 2009 semester. This is an increase of nearly one million students from the fall 2008 semester. It also represents a twenty-one percent growth rate which greatly exceeds the less than two percent growth rate for the overall higher education student population.

The survey also found that over three-quarters of academic leaders at public institutions, 55.4 percent of private nonprofits, and 67 percent of for-profits believe that online learning is as good as or better than face-to-face instruction.

For more information, the full report can be found here.

Google eBooks launches

Today Google launched its online bookstore called Google eBooks. Up until this point, the program has been referred to as Google Editions. According to an article from Wired, the e-book store will have about 2.8 million books that are no longer under copyright and were scanned through the Google Books project. The store will have another 200,000 books that have been licensed from publishers. Users will be able to read the books on Apple devices, Barnes & Noble Nooks, Sony E-readers, and computers. The books will not be accessible on the Amazon Kindle because of compatibility issues.

In addition, Google has partnered with some independent bookstores to allow them to sell e-books on their websites and share the revenue. Google also plans to add social networking features and says it has the infrastructure in place to let consumers purchase digital and paper copies in a bundle.

James Crawford, an engineer for Google eBooks, noted, “The idea is that you buy where you are and read on devices you already own. We are committed to open structure, and building up a wider and wider retailer network.”

The Google ebookstore can be found here.

Fairfield Public Library’s Technology Petting Zoo

Here is an example of a library that is making technologies available to patrons via a Technology Petting Zoo. Fairfield Public Library in Connecticut has an Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, Barnes & Noble Nook, and Sony Reader on display so that patrons can test out the devices before purchasing their own. Library personnel are also available to answer questions about the devices. The library plans to add additional devices as they become available to help its patrons become more informed consumers.

Recyclable Laptop

Wired Campus recently featured an interesting story about a prototype of a recyclable laptop that was created by graduate students at Stanford University and Aalto University in Finland. Many of the computer components can be recycled along with other household items while the screen and circuit board need to be sent to separate recycling facilities. According to the article, there are some small technical hurdles that need to be worked out before the computer can be produced.

Survey finds 21 percent of book buyers own an e-reading device

A recent Publishers Weekly article discusses the results from the Codex Group’s national book shopper survey. The survey found that 21 percent of book shoppers now own a dedicated e-reader or tablet. This increase can be attributed to the launch of the iPad and the decrease in the price of the Kindle. By next summer, Codex estimates that 36 percent of adult readers will own devices.

The survey also found that 26 percent of adult book buyers already read digital books and an additional 34 percent of book buyers are willing to try digital books. This means that up to 60 percent of all adult book readers could choose to read in digital format. Another 14 percent of adult book buyers said that they would never read a book in digital format.

To read more about the survey, you can view the article here.

Alibris launches site optimized for mobile devices that will make textbook shopping easier

Earlier this week, Alibris, an online retailer of textbooks, books, movies, and music, announced that it has launched a new website that is optimized for smartphones and tablets. The new site could make it easier for students to comparison shop and make textbooks purchases from their devices.

Jeanie Bunker, general manager of Alibris Retail, commented, “We know our student buyers often check textbook prices from multiple sources before they buy, so having a mobile site is the best way for them to shop on the go.”

Smarthistory interactive art history textbook

The Chronicle recently featured an article about an interactive online art-history textbook that we discussed in a posting last year. The online textbook is called Smarthistory and it is an ongoing effort by Beth Harris, professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Steven Zuker, Chairperson of History of Art and Design at the Pratt Institute.

The project began in 2005 and has evolved into an intuitive reference website that features an interactive timeline with images that link to videos. The site also includes links, maps, and photos to engage the users. According to the article, the project has been winning honors and more than 70 universities and colleges either use or recommend Smarthistory. A listing of the institutions can be found here.

In the future, similar websites for other disciplines could be modeled after this idea.

Will the second generation iPad be released early next year?

A recent article from MacNewsWorld discusses the rumors about when the next iPad will be released and the capabilities that it will include.

Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day

On Saturday, December 4, the first Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day will be held. Blogger and creator of the day, Jenny Milchman, hopes that it will encourage families to bring their children to a bookstore so that they can see all that the physical store has to offer. For more information visit: http://www.takeyourchildtoabookstore.org/.

Holiday Gift Guide to eReaders

eBookNewser has compiled a Holiday Gift Guide to eReaders that you may find helpful. It features a listing of all the e-readers and tablets that are on the market this holiday season. The guide includes a little bit of information about each and the associated price tag.

e-readers expected to be a top seller this holiday season

E-readers are expected to be a popular gift this holiday season and many e-reader companies have expanded the distribution of their devices to stores like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart. In addition, Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, have come up with new ways to promote their devices on the web or in the stores.

In an article from The New York Times, Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, says, “This is the tipping-point season for e-readers, there’s no question. A lot more books are going to be sold in e-book format. It also means that a lot fewer people are going to be shopping in bookstores.”

Forrester Research predicts that about nine million e-readers are currently in circulation in the United States and this could increase to 10.3 million after the holidays.

As mentioned previously, according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, e-readers rank fifth on the holiday wish lists of adults.

iPads assist disabled users

Here is an inspiring story and video from The New York Times about a boy with a degenerative disease that has been able to interact with an iPad. His mother says it is the first device that they have had success with and it is far cheaper than other devices they have tried. In addition, because the apps are inexpensive they can experiment to see which ones are the most beneficial.

The article notes that there are studies in progress to determine how effective the iPad is for people with disabilities. In the months since the iPad has been on the market, it has already become a popular device for assisting the disabled but the usefulness of the device depends on the specific disability. In the coming months, we can expect that additional apps will be created and added to the app store to assist disabled users.

Partnership between XanEdu, Barnes & Noble, and Texas A&M

According to a recent press release, XanEdu, Barnes & Noble, and Texas A&M have partnered to conduct a pilot. Students at the university will access XanEdu’s course materials within the NookStudy application and provide feedback on the usability, accessibility, and features of the content and the application.

As mentioned previously, NookStudy is a free application that can be downloaded to PC’s and Mac’s. It enables students to download e-books and e-textbooks, take notes, tag content, search through both the textbook and annotations, and manage all of their digital content.

Kindle e-book gifting program

On Friday, Amazon announced that consumers can now give Kindle e-books as gifts to anyone with an e-mail address. Consumers that do not own Kindle devices can download the free Kindle app to their PC, Mac, Apple, Blackberry, or Android devices to read the e-books.

Russ Grandinetti, Vice President, Amazon Kindle, noted, "We are thrilled to make it easier than ever for our customers to give their favorite Kindle book to a friend or family member as a gift. We're making this functionality available in time for the holidays to offer an easy, stress free holiday shopping option for anyone - not just Kindle owners."

Delta Electronics to work on 3D e-paper in 2011

According to a posting on E-Reader-info.com, a company called Delta Electronics will soon begin mass producing color e-paper displays. The company says that their screen has a faster refresh rate than E Ink displays. Delta Electronics also says that 3D e-paper is possible and it will be a major focus for the company in 2011.

Using e-readers to assist students with reading disabilities

A recent Education Week article discusses how e-readers may be able to help students with dyslexia and reading disabilities. To date, there is not much research to confirm that e-readers can improve reading skills but the devices are still evolving and many educators believe that there is true potential. Some of the benefits that e-readers on the market today can provide are: text-to-speech functionality, the ability to change the size of the type, and a built-in dictionary that can help students look up words and pronunciations. In addition, children may feel more comfortable using the devices in front of their peers because e-readers were not specifically designed for students with disabilities, students may need less assistance from teachers and parents, and the devices could help reduce the time it takes for students to receive the content they need in the format that they require.

Along with these benefits, there are additional capabilities that could be added to e-readers to make the devices more powerful. David H. Rose, the founder and chief education officer for the Center for Applied Special Technology, says, for now it is imperative to bring together the manufacturers of e-readers, as well as educators, policymakers, and experts in educational technology, to determine what features e-readers could and should include.

Lotta Larson, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Kansas State University, pointed out that professional development will also be required. "I don't think the e-reader in itself is going to make a difference, but if it's used with effective instruction, then it can make a huge difference.”

As the devices evolve and more experiments are implemented, we can expect that additional research will be conducted to determine if e-readers can improve reading skills and assist those with reading disabilities.

Resource for iPad Pilot info

Jim Siegl, a Technology Architect from Fairfax County Public Schools, and Eric Lai, a blogger for ZDNET, have put together a website to keep track of all the iPad pilots that are occurring at Higher Ed institutions and K-12 schools. This website is a great resource and it includes details about the pilots, the number of devices in the pilots, and links to associated articles. The website also features information for other industries that are experimenting with iPads.

You can view the website here.

Publishers see growth in digital content sales

Recent press releases from Wiley and McGraw-Hill provide information about their digital content sales in higher education and e-book sales.

In a press release from Wiley, William J. Pesce, President and CEO, commented, “In all of our businesses, we are experiencing growth in sales of digital content. We recently added Google to the extensive list of eBook channel partners. Margins in our Higher Education business continue to improve with the growth of WileyPLUS, digital content sales to institutions, customized offerings, and low-cost print products.”

For the Higher Education business, revenue from e-books, digital content sold directly to institutions, binder editions, and custom publishing grew by 33% and represented 21% of the global Higher Education business during the quarter. In addition, Wiley’s e-book sales doubled for the quarter and nearly doubled over the prior year.

In a press release from McGraw-Hill, it says that one of the contributors to a strong third quarter performance was the “double-digit increases in the sales of digital products and services in higher education and professional markets.” In addition, the number of registrations for McGraw-Hill Connect and other online homework management, assessment, and tutoring products grew to 1.9 million which is a 26% increase over the same period last year.

New York Times to begin publishing e-book best seller lists

The New York Times has announced that it will begin publishing e-book best-seller lists in fiction and non-fiction early next year. According to an article on their website, the lists will be compiled from data from publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers, online retailers, and other sources. The New York Times has been publishing best seller lists since 1935.

September 2010 e-book sales statistics

E-book sales statistics for September 2010 have been released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) via IDPF. Trade e-book sales were $39.9 million for September 2010, a 158.1% increase over September 2009. IDPF reports calendar year to date revenue is up 188%. Note: These figures represent the 12 to 15 trade book publishers who have been willing to supply their data to IDPF.

Results from NACS’ OnCampus Research study about e-books and e-readers

NACS’ research division, OnCampus Research, recently conducted an e-book and e-reader survey to find out how much college students are accessing e-books and the devices that they are using. Highlights from the report can be found here.

The study produced many interesting findings. In regards to e-book purchases, 13 percent of college students said that they purchased an e-book within the past three months. Of the 13 percent, 56 percent said that the primary reason for their purchase was that it was a required course material for class.

In regards to devices, eight percent of college students currently own an e-reader or an Apple iPad. Of the 92 percent that do not own a device, five percent plan to make a purchase in the near future and another 36 percent are unsure if they will buy one. The primary reason that 42 percent of students gave for not wanting to purchase a device was that they prefer print books. An additional one-third of the students said that they were not sure how an e-reader device would benefit them and 18 percent said that the device was too expensive or they were waiting for prices to drop.

These stats show that interest in e-books and e-readers is growing but the majority of students still prefer print or do not yet see the need for a device. This is likely to change as the technology progresses, the prices for e-readers come down, and the benefits are realized. In addition, the students in college today tend to have a lower preference for digital than the students a few years younger. As these students enter college in the next few years, we will likely see a significant change in preferences.

HP in-store POD pilots at three universities

As mentioned in a previous posting, this semester Hewlett Packard (HP) is conducting print-on-demand (POD) pilots at three universities: Portland State University, The University of Kansas, and Arizona State University. Below you can find a list of links to articles and videos that provide more information about each of the pilots.

Portland State University:

• An article from OregonLive.com discusses the pilot and says that the university has also partnered with Lulu self-publishing service. The partnership with Lulu allows authors to format their books online and then print the books at the PSU Bookstore.
• The PSU Bookstore has created a video with more information and a demo of the technology.
• Here is a link to a news story and video from Fox12 Oregon.
• Here is a video that features Glen Hopkins, vice president of Hewlett Packard, discussing how the technology is changing the publishing industry.
• Here is an article from the Portland Business Journal with more information about the pilot.

The University of Kansas

• Here are some links to articles from Kansan.com and The Oread KU Employee Newsletter that discuss the pilot at KU.
• Here is a video demo of the technology at KU’s bookstore.

Arizona State University

• An article from ASU News features information about the pilot at ASU.
• Here is a video demo of the technology at the ASU Bookstore. This posting also includes the goals of the pilot and information about their partnership with Lulu.
• Another video featured on ASU’s The State Press discusses the capabilities of the technology.
  

Color E Ink e-reader to be released in China

Earlier this week, Hanvon Technology announced that it will be the first to sell an e-reader with a color E Ink display. The device will be available in March 2011 in China and it may be available in the U.S. in the future.

It is important to note that the screen will feature muted colors and not vibrant colors like a LCD screen. Color E Ink is created by placing a color filter over the black and white display. Like the black and white version, color E Ink will not be able to handle full-motion video because of the slow refresh rate. However, the device will still include a long battery life and the ability to read in the bright sunlight.

According to an article in The New York Times, Amazon and Sony plan to wait until the color E Ink technology matures before adding it to their devices. Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business division, noted, “On a list of things that people want in e-readers, color always comes up. There’s no question that color is extremely logical. But it has to be vibrant color. We’re not willing to give up the true black-and-white reading experience.”

Kno announces pricing for tablets and begins accepting preorders

Earlier today, Kno announced the pricing for its single and dual-screen tablet devices and said that a limited number of devices will ship before the end of the year. As a reminder, the Kno Tablets were designed for higher education and include: 14-inch LCD screens to display full textbook pages; the ability to highlight and annotate; multitasking capabilities; support for stylus, touch, and keyboard input; and data backup in the cloud.

A posting on the All Things Digital website says that company will work with some college bookstores and the device will be aimed at 10 college campuses initially. This semester beta testing occurred at several campuses and Cengage Learning, McGraw Hill, Pearson, and Wiley provided select digital resources for the testing. The Kno website includes videos of a few students describing their experiences with the device and the company says that the student responses have been “overwhelmingly positive for both the single and dual screen devices.”

Students will be able to purchase textbooks through the Kno bookstore that will be accessible on the tablet. The store includes thousands of titles and the list can be viewed on Kno’s website. Currently the device has built in apps for reading, taking notes, and the web but additional apps are in development. A page on Kno’s website invites developers to help them design their development platform and build their app store. Apps for collaboration, specific subjects, educational games, and productivity tools will be available.

In addition, according to the New York Times, Kno plans to make its software available for laptops and potentially other tablets in the future.

These developments will certainly be ones to watch in the month’s ahead.

Study finds digital books could make up 25% of book sales by 2015

An article from The Bookseller.com discusses a new digital study that was conducted by Bain & Company. The study included 3,000 people from the U.S., France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The study found that up to 25% of books will be sold in digital format by 2015 and 15-20% of consumers will own e-reader devices. The study also showed that the switch to digital will occur more rapidly in the U.S. and Korea.

In terms of profit, the study found that digital could represent 20-28% of book industry profits. However, this will be dependent on innovation of the content and operating methods. The study noted, “Experimenting with new formats - non-linear, hybrid, interactive or social - is where opportunity lies.”

E-readers rank fifth on holiday gift wish list

According to a study by the Consumer Electronics Association, this holiday season spending on consumer electronics gifts will reach historic highs despite an overall decline in gift spending. In fact, three of the top five items on holiday gift wish lists of adults are for consumer electronics. E-readers made the list at number 5. The full list includes:

1- Peace/Happiness
2- Notebook/Laptop
3- iPad
4- Clothes
5- E-reader

Best Kindle e-books of 2010

Amazon recently posted a list of its 100 bestselling e-book titles for 2010. They also have a second list that shows the top 100 editors’ picks.

Digital coursepacks

Inside Higher Ed’s Technology and Learning blog has an interesting posting about the evolution of the digital coursepack. The posting points out that the iPad could be a platform for developing coursepack apps that include: articles, web content, assignments, video, tutorials, leaning outcomes, and more. Much of this content is only available through learning management systems (LMS) currently. If the content was moved to an app, it would allow the LMS systems to be used for interaction and collaboration and evolve to include authoring and sharing of content.

For more information, the full post can be found here.

Project Tomorrow’s Learning in the 21st Century: Taking it Mobile! report

Project Tomorrow has released a new report that includes key mobile related findings from its Speak Up 2009 survey.

According to the report, student access to mobile devices has more than tripled in the past few years. In 2006, 9 percent of high school students said that they owned a smartphone with internet access and now 31 percent say that they do. In addition, 24 percent of 6-8th graders say that they own smartphones. This increase in smartphone ownership has led to a change in student opinion about the primary barrier to using technology at school. In the 2008 study, the majority of students said that their school’s internet filters were the primary barrier to using technology but now 78 percent of 6-12th graders with smartphones say that the biggest barrier is the policies that prevent them from using their own devices. In addition, when students were asked how schools could make it easier for them to do their school work, 64 percent of high school students and 60 percent of middle school students said that they want to use their own devices.

When students were asked to design their “ultimate school,” 56 percent of middle and high school students said “mobile computers for every student” (examples include: laptops, mini-notebooks, or tablet PC’s). In addition, 52 percent of middle and high school students said that mobile devices would have the greatest positive impact on learning. More surprisingly, 52 percent of students in kindergarten through second grade said that their “ultimate school” would include laptops for every student.

The study also found that 62 percent of parents said that if their child’s school allowed mobile devices to be used for educational purposes, they would likely purchase a device for their child.

For more information, you can download the full report here.

Free e-books and textbooks on iTunes U

Apple’s iTunes U currently offers free lectures and courses, and now it will also offer free digital textbooks and e-books. According to an article from Wired Campus, The Open University has added 100 interactive e-books to iTunes U and plans to add an additional 200 e-books before the end of the year. Rice University has also added 18 free textbooks from its open education project called Connexions. Joel Thierstein, executive director of Connexions, pointed out that adding the textbooks to iTunes U could help institutions become more familiar with open-education content.