eText Excitement: Moore’s Law²?

The razzle-dazzle around unveiling of the iPad was about much more than the potential of that device to replace the pounds/dollars of textbooks that are part of today’s college life, but there was certainly buzz about its potential to do just that.

It may. Combine what it obviously offers with the increased functionality that businesses like Scrollmotion and Inkling may add to the mix, and you begin to see realized the potential that we all know is there for eTexts.

On the other hand, it was less than a year ago when the chatter was all about the Kindle DX. It’s a little like Moore’s Law on steroids. We saw the future and now, in less than a year, its been supplanted by a bigger, brighter, different future.

The reality is that all of these devices still have a long way to go to become as useful as they can be and to be accepted in the marketplace. Do you see legions of students walking along with a sleek valise containing a thin eReader in their hand, or do you still see students leaning forward under the weight of a backpack crammed with too many heavy texts and notebooks?

There are other devices in the mix, too, among them the Skiff and the Que, that have great potential. What will students accept or crave? How will content creators (authors and others who will help develop the learning materials of the future) respond? What will be the response of higher education institutions and the publishing community?

It’s still early in the game. Let’s not let our excitement over the announcement or unveiling du jour distract from all the work that needs to be done to providing a better way to deliver better learning materials to students in a format that doesn’t break either their backs or their pocketbooks.