[Athen] iPhone app for CourseSmart e-textbooks

[Shelley Haven]

Hi, all!

Of possible interest: CourseSmart's subscription e-textbook service  
now has an iPhone app.  While this may not be significant immediately,  
it could if Apple releases their much-anticipated "media pad" product  
later this year or in January, as it's expected to use the same  
operating system as the iPhone and iPod Touch.  So, how accessible are  
CourseSmart's e-textbooks?

2 links below, copy of article follows.

- Shelley

_____________________________
Shelley Haven  ATP, RET
Assistive Technology Consultant
www.TechPotential.net


Company:
http://www.coursesmart.com/go/iphone/index.html
Article:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/10/electronic_textbooks_mobile_check_depositing_come_to_apples_iphone.html

e-texbooks from CourseSmart

CourseSmart, a subscription e-textbook service, released its App Store  
software last week. The program, entitled "eTextbooks for the iPhone,"  
offers 7,000 different textbooks for college students from 12  
different publishers. It is free for subscribers, and the company  
states that students save an average of 50 percent on books.

In an interview The Wall Street Journal Monday, CourseSmart Executive  
Vice President Frank Lyman said the application is more of an asset  
than a textbook replacement.

"Nobody is going to use their iPhone to do their homework, but this  
does provide real mobile learning," he said. "If you're in a study  
group and you have a question, you can immediately access your text."

The service, created in 2007, is a collaboration between six higher- 
education publishers. The subscription model allows students to rent  
textbooks, typically for 180 days. When the subscription expires,  
students lose access to their e-texbooks.

Amazon has attempted to break into the digital textbook realm with its  
larger e-book reader, the Kindle DX. The books available on the iPhone  
are not on the Kindle. Earlier this year, Amazon released its iPhone- 
optimized Kindle store, which allowed users to read books on the go.  
Similarly, the Barnes & Noble eReader also debuted on the platform  
this year.

As software makers vie for a share of the e-reader market, Sarah  
Rotman Epps, an analyst with Forrester Research, told the Journal that  
the CourseSmart offering could be a breakthrough for e-textbooks.

"Textbooks are the missing link in the e-reader content base," she  
said. "The problem so far is that college students haven't really been  
interested in reading on their laptops. The iPhone will help create  
excitement and generate awareness of e-textbooks."



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