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McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

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Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#31

Post by jws »

johnrob wrote: post #11
pmjordan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's presumably the last time McGraw-Hill get to do any pre-release deals with Apple. It's not clear to me how that stunt is a net gain to them.

If e-readers are really going mainstream, McGraw-Hill will have a whole lot more to worry about than a sour relationship with Apple.

On the contrary. The text book industry views 2nd hand text books as theft.

Currently they do everything in their power to devalue 2nd hand sales, such as pointlessly churning the edition every year or two or even integrating course notes and syllabus for a specific professor. Once they go to e-readers there will be no 2nd hand sales and they can stop wasting resources on pointless editing and profit skyrockets!

Until MIT OpenCourseWare puts them all out of business. Good riddance.

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#33

Post by CamperBob »

ynniv wrote: post #27
jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

these are the guys that run the textbook market. ill go with option 1.

I have to disagree: have you seen the money students drop on textbooks lately? The whole market has consolidated and now makes books worthless after only a year or two (hence small secondary market) by releasing new revisions with different exercises in them. Maybe publishing at large doesn't know their business, but the textbook companies are minting money.

The textbook publishers had better gather their rosebuds while they may, because that scam isn't going to work forever.

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#35

Post by CamperBob »

thras wrote: post #26
tvon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there was ever a reasonable chance of anything else. I mean, if you're Apple, why do anything else? For the most part consumers clearly love to use the App Store. It has serious review process and barrier to entry issues, but those can be fixed over time (hopefully) and as long as there is an active audience, vendors will continue to come.

The problem is that there is a hell of a lot of general purpose software out there already that's never going to be worth the effort to port to a single device. The iPhone has some nice apps, but runs nothing important to me in my professional life. And if the new tablet isn't going to be a useful work tool, why would I want it?

What's your profession, and what tablet/phone apps might be helpful but not yet available?

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#36

Post by defen »

novum wrote: post #9
jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #5

McGraw Hill CEO found dead. Silver Mercedes with no license plate seen fleeing the crime.

About 18 months ago I was driving on the 101 near Mountain View, headed north at 10pm or so, when a white Mercedes with no plate zoomed past me. I was doing 70, it must have been going over 100. Always wondered if that was Steve.

I'm confused...is it a well known thing that Jobs' car has no plates? Is that legal?

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#37

Post by josh33 »

thras wrote: post #26
tvon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there was ever a reasonable chance of anything else. I mean, if you're Apple, why do anything else? For the most part consumers clearly love to use the App Store. It has serious review process and barrier to entry issues, but those can be fixed over time (hopefully) and as long as there is an active audience, vendors will continue to come.

The problem is that there is a hell of a lot of general purpose software out there already that's never going to be worth the effort to port to a single device. The iPhone has some nice apps, but runs nothing important to me in my professional life. And if the new tablet isn't going to be a useful work tool, why would I want it?

I honestly don't see the value proposition either. Oh wait. That's because Steve hasn't taken the stage yet to show us that Apple has created something of value that we didn't know we wanted until we were shown. Some call this fanboyism. It's really just creativity at its best. Creating new things to make life better. That's what apple does, and they are handsomely rewarded for it.

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#38

Post by jamesbkel »

novum wrote: post #13

He did say "based on iPhone OS", but I wonder if he mis-spoke especially given that he's not necessarily tech-savvy. In all likelihood, the tablet OS will be based on OS X in the same way that iPhone OS is - many of the same architectural underpinnings, but a completely different presentation layer that's optimized for the hardware. Maybe he meant "based on OS X, like iPhone OS"?

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps he misunderstood Apple telling McGraw-Hill that 'your e-books will work on iPhone and iSlate' as '[the tablet is] based on the iPhone operating system and so it will be transferable'.

Re: McGraw-Hill CEO: "The tablet is going to be just really terrific"

#40

Post by CamperBob »

defen wrote: post #36
novum wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 18 months ago I was driving on the 101 near Mountain View, headed north at 10pm or so, when a white Mercedes with no plate zoomed past me. I was doing 70, it must have been going over 100. Always wondered if that was Steve.

I'm confused...is it a well known thing that Jobs' car has no plates? Is that legal?

Surprisingly, yes. In California, apparently, there is a provision in the motor-vehicle code that allows 'celebrities' (for some definition of 'celebrity') to drive around without license plates.
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