technology.
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Oh, e-readers are e-readers. And tablets are tablets. And surely the
twain shall meet. Indeed, they already have, with the iPad hosting not
only its own integrated bookstore, but client software from Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, Kobo and others. Barnes & Noble, in turn,
describes its new Nook Color as a "readers' tablet." But these devices
and their affiliated digital bookstores are all chasing the same avid
readers of bestsellers. These readers read mostly for leisure or self-
directed enrichment as they can fit it in to their schedules.
But those who sell e-readers and tablets would really like to tap into
a market of people who have to read versus want to read -- not just
the low-stakes novellas of Amazon singles, but hefty, cumbersome,
expensive, perpetually obsolete tomes that are assigned to 19 million
full-time college students annually. The National Association of
College Stores estimates that the average full-time college student
spends nearly $700 per year on course materials. For the 2008-2009
school year, the average new textbook price was $64. And the mean
gross margin on course materials for a college bookstore is 27 percent.
That is a prize worth pursuing. But can a device dedicated to the way
students study survive amidst an onslaught of tablets from every
corner of the PC, consumer electronics and cell phone industries? Kno
thinks the answer is yes.
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