I submit this having no explicit or implicit knowledge of Apple’s plans for this announcement or future development of either the App platform or the iBooks platform.
Education has long been a core component to Apple’s strategy. Creating an intuitive interface not only allows for easy migration from another platform, but allows for young people—who may still be developing cognitive understandings—to engage users in an intuitive relationship with technology.
In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, he claimed that there were three new areas of innovation that Apple would focus on: Television, Photography and Textbooks. The future of television has already begun with the AppleTV set-top box, but that technology is expected to be replaced with an HDTV with display, touchscreen, and Siri controls, most likely arriving in time for Holiday 2012. Apple has been advancing their optics and serves up the best marriage of software and hardware powering cellphone cameras—and the most popular cameras on Flickr. Apple has had iTunes U in place for quite some time, whose content is available for no cost to anyone with an Apple ID (although a credit or debit card is needed to obtain an Apple ID).
In all three areas, Apple has had skin the the game for quite some time. Apple TV was first shown in 2006 and traces roots past 1995 with the release of the Pippin and the development of the Apple Interactive TV for Apple’s excitement about bringing computing to the living room. Apple QuickTake was released in 1994 as well and was one of the consumer-focused digital cameras available, but it was discontinued after 1997. Apple has always prioritized their relationship with students and schools, beginning with an entire generation of students growing up with a “computer lab” full of computers from the Apple II line and leading through their well-publicized “educational discount” and annual back-to-school promotions which run from June to September.
I have no doubt that Steve called textbook publishers assholes and bozos thousands of times while discussing how to disrupt the traditional business educational materials, the business model is broken. For public schools, sending the same physical book everywhere doesn’t make work because the curriculum requirements vary state-to-state and sometimes even district-to-district. Creating a different book for each use-case doesn’t make sense either, as the economy of scale is lost entirely in producing a product line in every conceivable flavor. The textbooks are also essentially a subscription model, where the subscription lasts for as long as the physical book can maintain structural integrity and the contains accurate and relevant information.
So, what do I expect to see on Thursday?
Context clue - The Guggenheim Museum: Can you imagine a more dramatic architectural background? Following the Isaacson biography’s relentless affirmation that Job’s entire life was to integrate and simplify systems, what better shadow to cast than that of Frank Lloyd Wright? I think that the choice of venue is to further disrupt the concept of classical learning models -e.g. school, teacher-student relationship, and “book as container for knowledge.” Art is a perfectly acceptable container to transfer knowledge, it is also a venue where unexpected and unintended lessons occur, even when masters have painstakingly crafted work after agonizing over each detail, qualities which were associated with Steve and Apple would like to showcase as part of their DNA.
Tim Cook will be in attendance and probably kick off the event. He will set the tone, which is the oft used Apple trope of “the intersection of liberal arts and technology.” I expect that John Crouch, Apple’s long-time VP of Education, will lead the event. I expect Eddy Cue and Scott Forstall to lead sections.
- Apple will create an Education Store subset of the App Store.
- This will allow educational material to differentiate from the $0.99 App economy.
- It will also allow Apple to curate and merchandise more granularly.
- Textbooks will be subscribed to.
- Teachers will be able to “build” their own curriculum from the content available.
- This solves the problem of diversified product line.
- I expect to see some classroom interface for iOS.
- I see this as a simple way for a teacher to take comments, poll, assign work, and assess a classroom from their podium.
- It should scale between a 10 student class and a 500 student college lecture.
- Students should be able to document the lecture, both collectively and individually.
- AirPlay to share media or as an “overhead projector.”
- A Game Center-like social component
- Form study groups within a class
- Overcome the proximity problem of education by connecting similar courses.
- Apple will highlight the next release of iBooks.
Apple should take this moment to position themselves as the best product to bring into a classroom. One of the biggest moments to purchase a computer is for incoming college freshmen. Apple will bring the iPad out as the best option for Fall ‘12 students, by then many kinks will be worked out of the system and there will be a broad array of Education apps available.
I fully expect Apple to tread cautiously and repeat the phrase “open standards” throughout this entire presentation. Google has been winning the battle for hearts and minds in the open-information game, and Apple will use this moment to raise the stakes. Apple will claim full EPUB3 compliance and highlight their role in shaping the spec.
Personally, I would like to see a bigger home screen presence for the iBookStore, putting reading front and center, reminding users of the wealth of information available in the bookstore, not burying it 3 layers deep behind the download of iBooks, the tap on the iBooks icon, the tap on the Store link inside. Newsstand’s store is a second-tap experience.
Beyond all this, I’m excited to see what Apple has cooked up, I think they’ll have something very special to deliver. It will undoubtedly ruffle a lot of feathers, but not I doubt that it will entirely upend the industry. As ever, I expect Apple will have a very clean and well thought out package to deliver. I just hope they can sell it without the reality distortion field.
