Around the Net
Is Apple's Education Event Overhyped?
- CNN, Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:03 PM
Scheduled for Thursday, more than a few Web watchers are losing their composure over Apple’s so-called education event. But, not Fortune. Plain and simple, “The goal is to sell more iPads to schools, not to destroy the textbook industry,” it reasons. No big whoop. Regarding the media drum roll, a former Apple executive tells Fortune: "This whole event is being blown out of proportion."
Not helping matters was Chris Foresman's article in Monday's Ars Technica with the headline: “Apple to announce tools, platform to ‘digitally destroy’ textbook publishing.” According to Foresman, Apple is set to unveil "a GarageBand for e-books," which he describes as "a simple app that makes the process [of creating interactive textbooks] as easy as creating a song in GarageBand." Foresman's main source, quoted half a dozen times in his piece, is Matt MacInnis, CEO of a digital textbook company Inkling, which has developed more than 100 titles for the iPad.
“We interviewed MacInnis over the weekend, and as near as we can tell, Foresman -- and the 18 other reporters who followed his lead -- got it wrong,” Fortune reports. "Apple is not trying to kill the incumbents," MacInnis told Fortune. "They've learned their lesson from upending the music industry."
