A new way to read? (This could save you textbook money!)

Allow me to make an analogy:


Remember the original Nintendo GameBoy? Well, no. You probably don't. Though it threatens to date me even further, I'll admit that I do. I got one not long after they came out, and it was awesome. I played it so much, I used to see Tetris blocks on the sides of buildings, on cars driving by, and even when I closed my eyes. Then, other hand-held game systems started to come out; they had cool new features, better games and (gasp) color screens. There was the Atari Lynx; Sega had the Game Gear, etc. (I'm overlooking the fact that all of those systems - and most of their parent companies - have gone the way of the dinosaurs, while Nintendo is still going strong. It's my analogy, and I'm going somewhere with it.) Fast forward to systems like the PSP and DS with gorgeous screens, WiFi, etc, and suddenly that old GameBoy seems like a relic, an ancient joke that can't stand up to the scrutiny of history.






Think, too, about the original cell phones. Not the Korean-war-era-looking giant bag phones, but early cell phones. They did just what their name implied, and little more. Now, of course, our cell phones do a mind-blowing array of things and have more computing power than NASA's early computers. And, of course, there's the top of the ivory pedastal: the iPhone, which does everything and makes it look good.


Now, to the point. Apple is coming out with a new tablet (think computer with no keyboard) that, I think , has the potential to revolutionize portable reading devices in the same way that the iPhone revolutionized cell-phones. According to a post on Gizmodo, One of the markets Apple is setting their sites on is the textbook market.

Imagine buying this device, with its gorgeous screen, WiFi capabilities that let you (make you want to) use it everywhere for everything, AND you have all of your textbooks for classes on it, plus interactive class-supplements, blogs, discussion boards, etc. According to the article, McGraw Hill and Oberlin Press are already trying to get deals with Apple. How many of their big, expensive books do you currently own? How much money would you save if you could buy less expensive e-versions of those books?


Compared to a device like amazon's Kindle, even the Kindle 2 or the supersized Kindle 2 (both from Ars Technica), I don't see there being much competition. Like the old-school Gameboy (and perhaps the Model T), the Kindle can represent any color you want, as long as it's a shade of black. It sort of has a touch screen, but Apple has clearly demonstrated fire superiority in that arena.


Could be that Apple new business model has one goal: shift paradigms.