It is hard to say how much impact iBooks Author will have and I think that there are some unanswered questions. One blogger talks about how expensive text books are for university courses and then goes on to say how Apple will be selling textbooks for $14.99. Can this be true?
I just can't see publishers selling iPad versions of textbooks that normally cost $50-$100 for just $14.99, bearing in mind that Apple takes a 30% cut of that selling price. What's in it for the publishers? Of course, there are reduced costs in distributing an electronic version, but I still can't see it being worthwhile. The only way it would work is if the books were split into several volumes and students had to buy them all to get the complete book - the equivalent of the paper version. If you get the full book then surely the publisher will lose money on each sale?
One of the textbook examples listed on Apple's website is Glencoe Chemistry Matter and Change. It costs $14.99 in the iTunes store for the iPad. I Googled it and it appears to be on sale at Amazon for $90. That means the iPad version is incredibly cheap. There are links on the Amazon page to other sellers offering it for as little as $40 including shipping. However, there are used copies for around $10. Considering the size and weight of the book, I think it may be worth buying the iPad version for $5 more though. Even cheaper was a link in the Google search results to a free PDF version of the book. I don't know whether this is legal or not, and suspect it might not be.
I think it's too early to say how successful textbooks on the iPad will be. I think that publishers are probably trying a few books as an experiment to see what happens. Whether in the future all students will be buying ebooks instead of the traditional paper books for their studies remains to be seen. No matter how cheap textbooks seem, don't forget to add the cost of an iPad though. Not all families can afford to buy an iPad for each of their children. Imagine if you have three teenage kids, each wanting an iPad for their iBooks textbooks. That's a lot of money and it's beyond some families. Do you want your kids carrying around an expensive iPad? Would they get mugged on the way home and their iPad stolen? I can't see students getting mugged for their hardback copy of Glencoe Chemistry Matter and Change.
Free educational books
There is a legal source of free text books that you can read on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Take a look at Bookboon.com, a great website that has free text books written by university professors. A wide range of subjects is covered and PDFs can be downloaded and transferred to the iPad and read in iBooks.
My latest book
I bought a book this week, Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October. I was browsing a bookshop (one of the few left in the high street), and came across this. I recognised it because I'd seen the film and liked it and thought I'd read the book too. It was on sale for £2. The ebook from the iTunes Store is £4.99.I have yet to read a book on my iPad, I just keep coming across paper books at great prices. I also bought The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, again it was on sale and cheaper as a paper book than an iBook in the iTunes store.
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