Textbook market is not ready for Amazon.com's Kindle
PDF readers, netbooks might be more cost effective than the Amazon Kindle
Dino Palladino
Issue date: 6/4/09 Section: Opinion
If you surveyed the students on the Fort Steilacoom campus asking them: "Do you own an iPod?," I'm sure that the response would be "Yes" from at least 80 percent if not more.
Now, if you ask those same students: "What do you use it for?," a majority answer would be for music. An alternative response would be: "For my homework;" after all, it is a storage device.
I'm reminded of the scene in "Back to The Future II" where Marty McFly plays that arcade game "Wild Bill." Even though Marty was good at it, the kid's comment:
"What? You have to use the gun? That's a baby's game," really hits the mark regarding new technologies and young kids.
Young kids. A student is not necessarily a young kid out of high school. A student is someone who is pursuing an education at a school, college or university.
So, you have a demographic here that needs to be recognized when you ask the question: "Would students use the Amazon Kindle?"
The above survey, with the proper demographic information, would give you an idea of who would use it and who would not.
However, I don't think the textbook market is ready for the Kindle. First, the bookstores would face a steep paradigm shift, as well as the publishing market for textbooks.
We all know that the market for textbooks isn't fair and balanced. A minor change on a few pages constitutes a new edition, and the new edition becomes the new text for the next class.
There are other factors at work there, but the main point here is the bookstores rely on that revenue. Right now, Amazon is the only place that sells the Kindle-based books.
The business process from writing to publishing to converting a textbook would take a couple of years to develop into a marketable system.
But there is an alternative, and I think it would be the best way to get the electronic movement going.
The alternative is to have a PDF version of the book accompany the book or offer it as a substitute. With Netbooks running around $350 students can get their textbooks in PDF and use the netbook with a PDF reader to read them.
Now, if you ask those same students: "What do you use it for?," a majority answer would be for music. An alternative response would be: "For my homework;" after all, it is a storage device.
I'm reminded of the scene in "Back to The Future II" where Marty McFly plays that arcade game "Wild Bill." Even though Marty was good at it, the kid's comment:
"What? You have to use the gun? That's a baby's game," really hits the mark regarding new technologies and young kids.
Young kids. A student is not necessarily a young kid out of high school. A student is someone who is pursuing an education at a school, college or university.
So, you have a demographic here that needs to be recognized when you ask the question: "Would students use the Amazon Kindle?"
The above survey, with the proper demographic information, would give you an idea of who would use it and who would not.
However, I don't think the textbook market is ready for the Kindle. First, the bookstores would face a steep paradigm shift, as well as the publishing market for textbooks.
We all know that the market for textbooks isn't fair and balanced. A minor change on a few pages constitutes a new edition, and the new edition becomes the new text for the next class.
There are other factors at work there, but the main point here is the bookstores rely on that revenue. Right now, Amazon is the only place that sells the Kindle-based books.
The business process from writing to publishing to converting a textbook would take a couple of years to develop into a marketable system.
But there is an alternative, and I think it would be the best way to get the electronic movement going.
The alternative is to have a PDF version of the book accompany the book or offer it as a substitute. With Netbooks running around $350 students can get their textbooks in PDF and use the netbook with a PDF reader to read them.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Vanessa
posted 6/11/09 @ 2:26 PM PST
Amazon.com might be the biggest seller of Kindle books, but it certainly isn't the only one; places like Fictionwise.com sell books that, while not in the Kindle's AZW format, are still compatible with the device. (Continued…)
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