Inkling makes deals for e-textbooks with key publishers
While many companies are talking about making the iPad the platform for electronic textbooks, one San Francisco startup appears to be moving boldly into making the dream a reality.
Inkling has announced that it'll be receiving financial backing from two of the largest names in textbook publishing -- Pearson and McGraw-Hill. What sets Inkling apart from other companies testing the textbook waters is its approach to creating truly interactive books that go beyond just making an electronic version of a book. Many e-textbook publishers simply make a PDF file of the content in an existing textbook and leave it at that.
Matt MacInnis, founder and CEO of Inkling, noted in a MobileBeat post today that the company starts with existing textbook content as a framework, then adds interactive and multimedia content that is only possible on the iPad. One impressive feature is the addition of interactive quizzes to the end of each chapter of the iPad textbooks. Inkling only has 14 textbooks available at this time, but it's expected to have over 100 out by this fall.
Not only is Inkling receiving funding from some big names, but it also has partnerships with John Wiley & Sons, Wolters Kluwer and W.W. Norton that give the company access to about 95 percent of available textbook content.
There's a short video demonstrating one of Inkling's e-textbooks, Mader Biology 10th edition, on the next page. The company's free iPad app is available here.
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While many companies are talking about making the iPad the platform for electronic textbooks, one San Francisco startup appears to be...
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As a teacher, I'mmexcited abot the possibilities of the iPad in the classroom, but I'm very, very sad that an interactive review quiz is being billed as impressive.
March 23 2011 at 8:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt does look slick and will be great for schools that can afford it. As a school leader, I am hoping for more public domain content, that we can customize for our own courses, rather than be tied to the expensive textbook companies. In the end this will be cheaper, and better for kids. Our best teachers are ready to do this, we just need the right tools. Content that we can play on an iPad or a MacBook will be the most useful to us. Just price it so that schools can actually afford it.
March 23 2011 at 7:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThey have some problems to iron out. For example, I tried to download the free chapter of the Intro to Psych text but it tells me that I have already gotten it and can re-download it from "My Stuff." Going to "My Stuff" I am told that it is empty and, so, I cannot re-download it. Not a good experience.
March 23 2011 at 5:31 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI am in love with inkling. I am not a student or a teacher. But I've always wanted to learn more about biology, so I'm buy the bio text book in chapter-sized pieces. Inkling is a delight to use, perfectly formatted for the iPad. The zoom-in charts and sidebars are great. And also, I think the pricing model (for me) is perfect. I'm not spending $180 on one text, I'm spending a few dollars on a great chapter about cell chemistry. I agree with @JClark: let's hope they get some real traction.
March 23 2011 at 5:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI like this app. I can not watt to see what happens. I am visually impaired and I use VoiceOver. I am glade that I can use te app.
March 23 2011 at 5:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI've browsed Inkling, and was amazed at the quality of the product, but the textbook prices are astronomical! How does a digital textbook IAP (that can't be resold) command a $150/item price?
I suppose if schools "mandate" it, the plan might work, but then the end user/student loses big time:
we keep all the disadvantages of an existing textbook market (price), while adding per-user DRM and no resale
Furthermore, how does this gel with Apple's new sub policy?
I don't know about you, but I wish some of my textbooks were that cheap. I am a currently a senior in college and some of my books cost upwards of $600. On the few that have digital versions, usually the online versions are a bit cheaper. As it is textbook companies rip students off anyways, but if they offered cheaper digital versions via an app like this then you better bet students would flock to the app.
March 23 2011 at 5:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyKevin,
You shouldn't compare the digital price to the new book price, but rather the used book price... are the used books nearly the same cost as the new ones?
Yes, digital is "grep-able" but even with an iPad, I find the paper textbooks to be more usable (esp. with post-its for note-taking).
I'm an educator and although the software seems impressive, they didn't respond to my email inquiry for a review copy of a full book. It would be really handy to have a chance to play with this tech before it trickles into the classroom. Seems like they should be interested to get this software in the hands of tech-saavy faculty like myself.
For reference, it's usually *very* easy to get evaluation copies from the publishers, they often send books unprovoked. We've adopted some pearson books so hopefully this means I'll have a chance to evaluate the software more fully. I'm excited about not having to lug books around and I'm sure they're excited to not burn money printing books that just get sold off to booksellers.
you can get chapters. what more is the rest of the book going to get you?
inkling doesn't own the content, so it's not theirs to "give away", why don't you contact the publishers?
I just finished an online course that had a digital textbook. It had a native iOS app, but it was garbage. Inkling is so nice to use, I can't wait for them to get some real traction. They easily have the best solution out there.
March 23 2011 at 3:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWe're just getting started...
Vineet Madan
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