Apple has developed a new application that will allow students to download textbooks onto their iPads instead of carrying piles of them around.
The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who wanted to break through the field of textbooks and make them more accessible and less expensive for university students, first introduced the idea prior to his death in October 2011. Apple has followed through with the idea in order to modernize the textbook industry.
iPads currently sell for about $500 in Canada, but the textbooks themselves would be much cheaper than the physical copies.
Apple has partnered with publishers Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and is selling each book for $14.99, according to Reuters.
Still, some students aren’t on board with the idea.
“My head hurts when I look at a laptop or an iPad for too long,” said Shanzeh Ameen, a first-year journalism student at Carleton. “I see the appeal of it but I prefer having the traditional textbooks.”
Other students are reluctant to give it a try because of the distractions that come with getting a tablet.
“I get that they’re usually cheaper and it would probably be better for the environment,” said Melissa Bouchard, a first-year journalism student. “But it takes so much more effort to concentrate on a screen because you just get the strongest urge to check Facebook or Twitter.”
According to the results of the initiative so far, many students disagree with Ameen and Bouchard. A recent report from Global Equities Research indicates that more than 350,000 books were already downloaded from Apple’s iBookstore since the textbook program was launched last week.
The appeal seems divided, with some students praising the idea and others simply feeling reluctant to change their habits.
“iBooks would be more convenient, since an iPad is easy and light to transport,” said Thérèse Agayby, a first-year kinesiology student at the University of Toronto. “It also makes things compact since you would just have to carry your iPad.”
It all depends on how accessible and available most university textbooks would be on the iPad, Ameen said.
“I’ll stick to my regular textbooks for now, but I’ll see how the app does in the next little while and then I might change my mind.”
