Much Lighter and Cheaper Digital Textbooks on iPads

I posted on the coming (and I predicted explosive) growth of digital textbooks last year on my Publishing/Writing Blog and here on this blog.

This post gives the latest advances ... including popularity, growth and forecast figures.

Show me the money! AND the savings and convenience to students ... These e-textbooks (some with interactive, complex content) are probably the greatest invention since the vibrator :)

Three companies: Inkling (a startup stand alone), CourseSmart (owned by textbook publishers Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Wiley, MacMillan and Cengage) and Kno (an Education software company) are the main players in the digital textbook field to date.

Details here by Jefferson Graham in USA Today:

Matt MacInnis believes college textbooks are heavy, expensive and outdated. That's why he decided to reinvent them as a multimedia experience for the iPad.


"We're trying to bring textbooks forward to the 21st century," he says.

San Francisco-based Inkling is the start-up he formed to bring next-generation textbooks to the iPad. Chapters of such educational tomes can be purchased for $2.99 a pop at the iTunes App Store. In early tests, students rave. Several colleges have jumped on board, using Inkling textbooks with college-mandated iPads for fall courses.

Investors like what they see. Inkling today will announce a second round of funding for the company, $17 million from Tenaya Capital, Jafco Ventures and Sequoia Capital. This follows the initial funding from Sequoia and others, including publishers McGraw-Hill and Pearson.

"This shows we're trying to scale the business in a big way," says MacInnis. "We're hoping it shows just how substantial our vision is."

Some $4.5 billion worth of textbooks were sold in 2010, according to the Association of American Publishers. Education consultant Xplana expects digital textbooks to represent 3% of sales in 2011, growing to 44% by 2017.

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Publisher 'Inkling' Leading in Interactive Content Publishing

Inkling has evidently developed an interactive content publishing platform that will be useful to many applications outside it's own educational, textbook mission...and is raising series A funding for further development.

Seems only fitting that an educational publisher, that deals with teaching in an interactive environment, would be the innovator of such a platform in the new digital publishing world.

Here are more details in a press release from Business Wire :

Inkling(tm) announced its Series A financing today, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Kapor Capital, Sherpalo Ventures and Felicis Ventures. Inkling delivers engaging interactive textbooks that feature powerful social collaboration, integrated multimedia, and instant learner feedback. Inkling also launched its platform for advanced learning content today with the immediate availability of its iPad app.

Inkling Founder and CEO Matt MacInnis announced that the company has added Peter Currie, Former CFO of Netscape, and Bryan Schreier, Partner, Sequoia Capital, to its board.

The publishing industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation as devices like iPad enable new interactive digital experiences. Getting content onto these devices is expensive, and best practices aren't yet established. Educational content in particular presents special challenges because of its visual and informational complexity. Inkling provides a scalable platform for creating complex interactive experiences for multiple platforms, starting first with iPad.

"We're going to change the way people learn," said Mr. MacInnis. "And our object-oriented publishing platform positions us to accelerate change in the publishing industry, benefitting publishers, students, and educators alike."

"Inkling has produced a groundbreaking platform for interactive content publishing in a market that's primed for innovation," said Mr. Schreier. "With its visionary product strategy and phenomenal team, Inkling is leading the way for digital content platforms, not just in education, but in digital publishing everywhere. We're excited to be a part of it."

Inkling was founded in late 2009 to tackle the challenges of interactive publishing. Inkling's partnerships with major publishers like Cengage Learning, John Wiley & Sons, McGraw-Hill, and Wolters Kluwer will yield next-generation interactive titles that replace traditional textbooks and other printed learning materials.

Contacts:
Inkling
Lauren E. Struck, 415-975-4423
lauren@inkling.com