One of the most interesting discussions going on about the iPad is about what device it will replace. Will it replace the laptop? Netbook? Smartphone? eReader? For college students, the answer might just be that the “device” the iPad replaces is the printed textbook.

A couple of facts. The ECAR study on college technology (warning:  PDF) shows that 87.8% of college students have a laptop and 79% of freshmen own a laptop less than one year old. So, in the short term, the iPad will likely not replace laptops since everybody already has one.  Ditto for the phone which has become the most important device a college student carries.

This leads a lot of people to think that the iPad is going to be challenged by the idea that students won’t want to add a device to the ones they already have.  But I don’t see it that way.  I think the iPad is well positioned to replace the heaviest device that students are currently carrying with them—the printed textbook.

Let’s start with the Math.  According to most sources (NACS, Student Monitor, AAP) students spend between $300-$400 per semester on textbooks.  CourseSmart eTextbooks save students about 50% versus printed books so it is safe to assume an average student could save $100 every semester by buying 1 or 2 of their textbooks as eTextbooks.  How long do you think it will take college students to figure out (or convince parents) that they could buy an iPad and pay back the $500 (or $600) cost within a few semesters?

Beyond the fact that they are guaranteed to save money, the second most common reason students cite for buying eTextbooks now is access anytime (including instantly) and anywhere.  This is why I am confident that many students will look to replace their print textbooks with an iPad and similar devices.  Their success depends on access to their textbook materials, but they dread lugging around 20 pounds of books from home to school to their job and to the library.

I’m pretty sure many college students out there thinking:

• Is my textbook available as a CourseSmart eTextbook? (check)
• Can I save enough money to cover the cost of the iPad? (check)
• Am I willing to give up print for the convenience of having an interactive eTextbook that I can access anywhere, anytime? (check)
• When does that thing ship?

So to those who think college students don’t have room for another device, you may need to consider the problem differently.  What are they going to do with all of the backpack room they free up when they replace their print books?

Like a lot of people with iPhone app’s, we are encouraged by Apple’s assurances that iPhone apps will run on the iPad from day one of its launch. That gives us confidence that our app, eTextbooks for the iPhone, will be available on the iPad and give every student in North America the ability to buy one or more of their textbooks as a CourseSmart eTextbook and use it on an iPad.

The process is simple for students.

• They begin by coming to www.coursesmart.com and searching for their assigned textbook. CourseSmart has more than 8,800 of the most widely adopted textbooks on campus, covering most of the market.
• Once they find their assigned textbook as an eTextbook, they can purchase a subscription to the title either as an online eTextbook (your textbook in the cloud) or a downloadable one. The main difference is that the online eTextbook can be accessed through any computer connected to the Internet while the downloadable is restricted to one computer.
• Once a student has an existing subscription at CourseSmart (which he or she can access on netbooks, laptops, or other computers) they can download the eTextbooks for the iPhone app and access these same subscriptions on their iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad.

Of course, the iPad is a very different device than an iPhone and we are now hard at work designing an updated application to take advantage of those differences.  We believe that, while the iPhone is a valuable tool for study and review, the iPad will be more valuable as a primary reading and studying tool. Our updated application will seek to better support that type of activity.

We will launch a new app as soon as possible to the launch of the iPad and likely a second release of it, based on what we learn from our initial customers, before back-to-school 2010.

Check out our iPhone app now and the iPad app in March.

Hundreds of thousands of students are already accessing their assigned textbooks as CourseSmart eTextbooks on their laptops, netbooks, desktops, computer labs, iPhones, iPod Touches and other mobile devices.

But what about eTextbooks on the new “tablet” devices?

When media and analysts speculate about the emerging tablet market, they inevitably come to the conclusion that these devices will be very popular with college students if and when there is eTextbook content available.

We agree completely! Better yet, with our library of 8,000+ textbooks across 15 different publishers, we are in a position to make sure that the right content is available to every student who wants to access their textbooks on a tablet.

In the video below, we set out to visualize the experience of a student using a CourseSmart eTextbook on a tablet. Most of the functionality demonstrated is currently available in our online eTextbook and/or our iPhone app and the video shows how it might be optimized for a larger format tablet device.

Let us know what you think.

This update includes several enhancements to the application’s speed, performance and ease of use.

What’s new in this update?

• eTextbook pages now load 25% faster!
• Improved next/previous page navigation in landscape mode
• Fixed problems that prevented certain eTextbooks from appearing on the bookshelf
• Many more speed, stability and quality improvements

Improved next/previous page navigation in landscape mode

This was the most frequently requested new feature on the CourseSmart blog and iTunes App Store reviews.

The new design preserve as much screen real estate as possible for the eTextbook page image while making it easy to get to the next or previous  page.

What’s next for the CourseSmart iPhone App?

You tell us! Use the comments on the blog to let us know what you like about the app and what still needs work.

This week AppJudgment released an enthusiastic review of CoureSmart’s “eTextbooks on the iPhone” app from the student point of view.

AppJudgment » Episode 11: iPhone: eTextbooks

Clarification: The iPhone App allows you to view the notes you make from CourseSmart’s online eReader. That point may be lost in AppJudgment’s review of the notes feature.

What? CourseSmart’s “eTextbooks for the iPhone” will now load book pages upto 25% faster.

How? We eliminated extra info sent with page image. This reduces the amount of data transmitted over the internet.

When? Right now! You do NOT need to update your app.

Why? You spoke and we listened. We prioritized speed and stability over new features in August.

Where? Any iPhone or iPod Touch with an internet connection, active CourseSmart eTextbook subscriptions and the “eTextbook for the iPhone” app installed.

Read the rest of this entry …

Lots of people ask me this question.  Mostly because until you see an eTextbook, it is hard to visualize it.  So check out the video below for a visual!

What other questions do you have?  I’ll respond here.  Thanks.

CourseSmart uses image files to display true digital equivalents of the textbook pages. As you will learn, this has a big impact on the “eTextbooks for the iPhone” application.

Using the Swipe Gesture to Scroll and Pan the Page

In many places on the  iPhone, a swipe gesture is used for next/previous page.  But when you view a “resized” image file, swiping “pans” left-to-right or “scrolls” top-to-bottom.

The app automatically zooms the image file to fit the screen width. This improves legibility immensely. That’s why you can’t swipe to get to the next page.

What’s the Best Way to Zoom-in?

Read the rest of this entry …