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Read the rest of this articleKindle can't compete with iPad built and priced for students
With the anticipation of the iPad release looming, Apple is hoping to cash in on a market that the Amazon Kindle failed to please: education. Researchers tested the Amazon Kindle DX at several major universities and found that for students, it just wasn't conventional or convenient. So is the iPad capable of bringing satisfaction where the Kindle was not?
According to recent estimates, Apple could have as many as 190,000 pre-ordered iPads heading to consumers in the first week. This of course is no more than a calculated approximation (no numbers have yet been released), but for Apple, it could be a gauge of the success of the product for months or even years to come.
For the iPad to ultimately to be successful, it needs to fit the price-point and technological desires of every day consumers, including students.
Assuming the 190,000 orders is accurate, it seems many early adopters feel the iPad has hit the mark when weighing the value of the product to the price.
But how will the educational market react to Apple's product positioning?
Already, Apple has lowered the price by $20 when ordering packs of 10 iPads for educational use, and not to downplay the importance of price (because it is a key component), but if the iPad can't impress students and faculty with it's functionality, it will not do well in that market.
The Amazon Kindle DX flopped in two major areas at universities: taking notes and reading multiple documents.
Princeton researchers summarized the downfalls of the Kindle in universities by saying, "Because it was difficult to take notes on the Kindle, because PDF documents could not be annotated or highlighted at all, and because it was hard to look at more than one document at once, the Kindle was occasionally a tool that was counter-productive to scholarship."
Fortunately for Apple, the future may be bright with several interactive features on the iPad that could dispel the worries of students looking to be able to do everything they could before with a good ol' printed textbook.
The Wall Street Journal listed features like "video, interactive quizzes, the ability to record lectures, highlight and search text, and take notes" all as part of deal with ScrollMotion that would put Apple ahead in educational market.
One of the great benefits of the iPad is that it's an adaptable platform from the standpoint that apps and content are constantly being developed. Think off all the potential additional learning and textbook functionality that would be available in app format.
ScrollMotion is also working with Amazon and other e-readers to get similar technology, but it is going to be a lot more difficult to build in that programming to such a simple reader.
The April 3 release of the iPad could be an exciting day for students if Apple can deliver with interactive textbook features. More so than the ability to resell books, this is the deal breaker for students.
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Comments
I doubt iPad will take off because of lack of features. Check out this parody video clip and you will know:
http://mylaughingblog.com/2010/03/hitler-ipad-parody/
@ David:
Perhaps you haven't been paying attention, but the iPad already has taken off, despite the fact that no consumer has even used a single unit, just as was true about the iPhone.
You can hate Apple -- that's your opinion and your right -- but you can't have your own facts.
Haha, good video. However I disagree with you. Sure, the iPad may not have it all. It may just be a little better than an oversized iPod Touch. But have you ever considered that there are thousands, maybe millions of people who want just that? Lets face it, the iPhone and the Touch are amazing products, but watching movies, surfing the net, reading books, (and other things) is just not so fun on such a small screen. The iPad solves that. Simpler than a net-book, shouldn't be compared with a laptop, nice product that will fit well between small handheld products and laptops. If you don't like it, don't buy it!
@ David
Talk is cheap. I say Apple will sell 5 million ipods by May 15, 2011. What is your estimate. Let's see who is closer to the true number. Fortunately Apple doesn't need to take advice from naysayers.
So put up your estimate or STFU.
well, for all of you that are going to get the new iPad, or allready have another tablet, you must
link into the new Home Page for tablets...
http://www.200linx.com . this website gives you all the websites that you use, orgenized in one
neet page.
enjoy...
@ Hacksaw: STFU = hijack = rude, so STFU
@ Ryan Roff: interesting article, thx - iPad kinda needs to offer diagramming; if drawing and text entry work simultaneously on the iPad then the device may get used plenty, in education and in business
The Kindle & the iPAD are in two different classes.
One is very limited in what it can do and the other holds great potential and a multi-function device yet to be seen.
If you look at the cost dynamics that students face in terms of hard cover books, the need to do research, keep a class & personal schedule, retrieve documents for class from a server and perhaps just navigate around the campus & the surrounding neighborhood/community the iPADs advantages begin to be become obvious.
Foolish statement #1. "The iPad won't sell because it doesn't have enough hardware". That's right, it won't sell to tech geeks and Apple doesn't care one bit. Apple's target audience won't give a damn about how much hardware the iPad has as long as consumers can easily use it. Every past Windows tablet had more than enough hardware and software and they still failed, so the not enough hardware argument is definitely flawed. Consumers are looking for a balanced device of hardware, software, ease of use, digital content and customer support. That's what will allow the iPad to sell in the millions of units. Lack of a USB port and a camera won't amount to diddly when it comes to iPad sales. Geeks know tech, but know nothing about how to run a profitable company. Apple does.
@hacksaw. I don't see it selling 5 million. Maybe 3 million.
Mindmapping would be amazing on the iPad. A iPad isn't a students device. Nothing can replace a laptop
William, theamazingipad.com
there is already a mind mapping app on the iPhone so it will be there for the iPad.
I don't think that the Kindle and the iPad are competitors. Really. The iPad is a multifunction device that is going to do very well. I think the Kindle, Sony Reader and other similar devices will continue to do well too, because you spend lots of time reading books and eyestrain is a serious problem with more than a couple of hours reading on a back illuminated screen. The iPad will be ideal for that 45 minutes in a waiting room, but not for the 2 hour reading assignment for history, followed by the 1 1/2 hour reading assignment for geography, plus knocking out a couple of hundred more pages in the English lit assignment. A real book, or a Kindle, can do that without going blind in the process.
Oh-by-the-way...no one parodies unsuccessful products or people -- unless they're remarkable failures --or products and people by which they feel threatened due to potential success.
Welcome to a very unhappy club.