Three different takes on Apple’s announcement yesterday about iBooks/iTunes U, and its plans to provide lots of textbooks through major publishers for $15. This would be such an interesting story to pursue from the educator’s or student’s perspective, since right now other folks seem to be deciding what our perspectives are/will be (teachers will like being able to make their own books, students will like cheap prices).
I love Apple products as much as the next person, but what will it mean to have textbook content that has to pass muster with Apple first? A bit Orwellian, if you ask me…
Story 1 (The Atlantic): A Brief History of Textbooks, or, Why Apple’s ‘New Textbook Experience’ Is Actually Revolutionary
Story 2 (GigaOM): Do we want textbooks to live in Apple’s walled garden?
Story 3 (Venturebeat): The dark side of Apple’s digital textbook utopia
UPDATE: I also read this article this morning on Mashable that indicates that if you charge money for a book you make in iBooks Author, Apple owns the distribution rights to that book (and will make money from it, too). The legalese states: “you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple.”
