California’s plan to provide free e-textbooks could benefit Amazon Kindle DX

Amazon marketing executives must have rubbed their hands with glee after hearing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s announcement of his state’s first program in the nation to replace traditional paper textbooks with digital textbooks. free online. This is not a vision of the future, the initiative is scheduled to start in August 2009. Science and Math textbooks will be the first subjects to be replaced with other areas to follow.

 

An initial list of standards-aligned digital textbooks covering topics such as geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, algebra, chemistry, biology, and earth sciences will be released in August. Several eBooks have already been shipped and are under review. Academic publishers and content providers have been invited to submit more materials for review by the California Learning Resources Network. The deadline for submission is June 15 to allow for review in time for the next academic year.

 

The second phase of the initiative, currently under development, will make the new digital textbooks available to all grades. Interactive content will be included and the long-term goal will be a state website displaying available books.

 

The initiative has the potential to save millions of dollars for California schools. It is estimated that a school district with around 10,000 high school students could save $2 million dollars by using free downloadable textbooks in science and math classes alone. In 2008, the State of California spent $350 million on printed textbooks and other instructional materials. Following the adoption of digital textbooks, a significant portion of this money will be available for use in other areas.

 

Another expected benefit is that by making digital textbooks easier to update, it will be easier for students to learn about technological advances and current discoveries as they occur. Conventional paper textbooks tend to be updated, on average, every six years, which could mean that students may be missing six years of information at the end of the cycle.

 

It also seems likely that alternative interactive learning possibilities could be introduced once the scheme is operational.

 

Now, it’s probably worth noting that at no point in his announcement did Governor Schwarzenegger mention Amazon’s e-book reader, or any of its competitors. In fact, he said it would be possible for schools to benefit even without computers or laptops, since teachers could print the material and it would still be considerably cheaper than a conventional textbook. So why is the internet buzzing about this “good news” for Amazon?

 

Well, the latest addition to Amazon’s Kindle family of eBook readers, the Kindle DX, launched on June 10, just five days after Governor Schwarzenegger’s announcement. It is a larger version of Amazon’s recently released Kindle 2 that has a 9.7″ screen instead of a 6″. Amazon has touted it as ideal for reading newspapers, magazines, and, wait, academic textbooks.

 

Amazon has already signed deals with at least three academic publishers, and some higher education establishments have publicly announced that they will make the Kindle available to their students. On balance, Amazon is currently in a better position to take advantage of the sudden introduction of new digital technologies in academia than most of its competitors.

 

That’s not to say they’ll have things their way, of course. Sony has partnered with Google to make Google’s massive collection of public domain eBooks available to users of its PRS eBook reader, a clear sign that neither Google nor Sony are willing to give up the potentially huge and lucrative eBook market to Amazon without a fight. Other competitors also exist and it will be interesting to see how they respond to the evolution of the market in general and of the academic sector in particular.

 

Meanwhile, it appears that Governor Schwarzenegger’s innovative plan for California’s educational future will likely boost sales of the Amazon Reader, Kindle accessories, and books from Amazon’s Kindle Store. No doubt other states will consider similar schemes and the academic sector of the book market could heat up very quickly. Of course, the academic textbook sector is just one segment of the market, but it seems to be leading the way. It also offers Amazon and its competition an ideal opportunity to “get them while they’re young” and establish brand recognition and loyalty that could influence purchasing decisions in the future.