Only Apple could take on the educational textbook business, an industry seemingly frozen in the 1950’s, where three gorillas dominate 90% of the market, and credibly expect to win.
Then again, only Apple has the moxie and constitution to re-think the entire textbook value chain from device to development tool; from online marketplace to bricks-and-mortar, and into the classroom.
That Apple today simultaneously launched a new interactive book authoring tool, an updated online bookstore and a new platform for creating, instigating and managing online courses is…let’s face it…so very Apple-like.
This is what they do. Build great tools that only run on the Mac, that tie into a software platform that seamlessly integrates into their three flavors of ‘iDevices’ (i.e., iPod touch, iPhone and iPad), and that feeds into an iTunes + iCloud universe, which is the axis point for Music, Movies, TV shows, Books, Apps and Personal Media, not to mention 250M credit card-backed iTunes accounts.
I mean, this is the definition of a ‘Halo Effect,’ right? Every thing that the company does reinforces everything that the company does, and every new initiative builds upon this advantage, in the process creating new advantages in terms of brand, market penetration and, most importantly, mindshare.
It’s almost Microsoft-like (back in the days when the PC ruled the roost); namely, that there is an air of inevitability, that through the Apple approach, which is all about focus, rigor, integration, leverage, derivation and optimization, that when Apple decides to attack, they are destined to win. (To be clear, though, Apple winning does not mean that everyone else must lose.)
In fact, one great irony is how until recently, the conventional wisdom was that Apple couldn’t win with this type of vertically focused approach, and that Google’s aping of the Microsoft horizontal model was destined to prevail.
Why Apple’s Approach to Textbooks is Credible
In pointing their attention at the textbook, Apple does so with several tremendous advantages. One is the simple fact that education is a core part of the company’s DNA, Apple having built their initial education beachhead in the mid-1980s with the Apple IIGS in K-12, and later on, with the Mac in higher education.
In fact, beyond Apple’s strong Mac presence in education, there are now more than 1.5 million iPads used in schools, over 20,00 education and learning apps built for the iPad, and over 1000 universities using Apple’s free online lectures archive, iTunes U.
Two is the basic truth that the ethos of a lightweight device whose battery lasts all day, that is durable, richly interactive, loaded up with compelling content, highly customizable, and equally critical, which is coveted by the ultimate end-user of the device (the iPad was the number one coveted device by teens over the holidays), is iPad all the way.
After all, it’s not like there is some other device that is even remotely in the ballpark in terms of units sold, developer adoption or customer embrace.
Three is the fact that in targeting the textbook arena, Apple was cognizant of the ‘core jobs’ that they’d need to address to be successful; namely:
- Making it easy to create the textbooks themselves;
- Extending the concept of a textbook to be visually elegant and meaningfully interactive;
- Nailing the information management side by making textbooks readily searchable, and cross-linkable between the table of contents, the text body and the glossary terms;
- Enhancing the study side of the equation by making notation and highlighting very easy, and conversion of same into study cards in a single click.
So, in the big picture, how do I read what Apple is doing? Number one, they are changing the rules of the game for a company like Amazon, which has a credible hope of competing in this space, given the success of Kindle.
Thus, by providing an enhanced ebook experience, and the tools to create it (something I suggested that Apple would do back in 2009), Apple is laying down the gauntlet.
If Amazon wants to compete, they either need to up their game by building tools and forking more heavily away from Android, or they need to focus on being the best low-end and/or single-purpose solution.
They simply are not going to succeed going toe-to-toe with Apple in segments where being best-of-breed and scalable matters.
As to Google, given the fact that the Android Market still has a confused relationship with customer billing, that the platform still does not support in-app purchasing, and the company’s seeming inability to launch a credible alternative to iTunes, the Android-based tablet business remains best suited for folks who want to surf the web while on the potty.
Moreover, in turning iTunes U into a courseware platform, Apple is basically taking the end-to-end problem of online course logistics, and solving it by enabling instructors to create full-fledged courses that incorporate a syllabus, document assignments, and which build a new type of courseware ‘bundle’ that is a composite of iBooks, Apps, Audio, Videos, Documents and iTunes U lectures.
Plus, because it’s deeply integrated with the new iBooks, a professor can reference a specific page in an assignment, and by clicking on the reference, the app will take the user to the specific content section, be it a reading passage, a video, an interactive element, or even a custom note within a reading passage.
Finally, because the courseware ‘envelope’ is bounded by a new iTunes U app, teachers can post messages and update assignments, and students can mark the assignment as completed when done.
Personally, there’s more than a little irony that the same company the rebooted the music business by unbundling the single from the CD package is now looking to reboot the education business by bundling apps and media into courseware.
Related Notes:
- The fact that iTunes U, which was previously limited to college courses, is now going to support K-12, is a big win for underfunded school districts, not to mention, homeschoolers, a rapidly growing segment.
- iTunes U could see major uptake outside of the US since the service will be available in 123 countries. Given that iTunes U will drive ownership of both iPads and the underlying content and apps that make up a course, this initiative could end up catalyzing a lot of international growth for Apple in the months ahead.
- The new iBooks model further muddies the already fuzzy boundaries between iBooks and Book Apps. Book Apps are clearly more dynamic and functionally rich than iBooks, but they are also more expensive to produce, and equally vexing, whereas Apple has pushed to maintain higher price points on iBooks, with Book Apps, they have allowed the category to be subject to the same downward pricing pressures as ordinary apps.
- By taking a leadership role in education, and coming off as deeply earnest about this being a core part of the company’s mission, Apple gets to counter attacks that they are a walled garden and a bully with the fact that in market after market, they are the hero of the consumer. I expect them to see continued brand uplift from this.
- On the downside, serious questions have been raised by others about the EULA in iBooks Author, inasmuch as Apple is trying to handcuff the author’s ability to do what they want with the output of the tool, and potentially raising questions of who owns the 'output' that is generated by the tool, but crafted by the author. Needless to say, this is an aspect of Apple that, business logic notwithstanding, makes more than a few queasy.
- It seems clear that many of these books will be 1 GB in size or larger, suggesting that the iPad of the not too distant future is going to need a lot more storage for education-oriented users.
- What, no social? It’s hardly surprising that Apple opted not to incorporate social functions into the new iBooks, given their two left-feet in this domain, but it’s also a missed opportunity to enhance collaboration and shared learning efforts.
UPDATE: Fred Wilson is the best (i.e., I love the richness of his perspective, and how business and product strategies manifest in the real world), but it's hard to imagine him celebrating ANYTHING that Apple does, which makes his complete dismissal of Apple's efforts here unsurprising (see 'Textbook Cases').
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