Incisive Media releases is first tablet edition for the British Journal of Photography; iPad app offers the first issue free

The British Journal of Photography (BJP) has a tablet edition now in the App Store that offers the first issue free of charge, and two profile issues for $0.99 each. The BJP is published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited.

The app was built using the Mag+ digital publishing platform and the first issue is quite extensive. In fact, the editor, Simon Bainbridge, makes reference to this in his Editor's Letter at the front of the free issue. "If you've never read us before, thank you for your patience with the download; a necessary evil in the course of bringing you a magazine app packed with in-depth articles, reviews, videos and, of course, hundreds of visually arresting, full-frame images," Bainbridge writes.

The download of the free issue does take a while, as it weighs in just under 400 MB. But as the app gives you both portrait and landscape views, as well as a fair amount of animation/video, 400 MB isn't extreme at all.

But I did have some trouble after the download as my iPad crashed continually when trying to access the issue. At first I gave up but decided to go over to the U.K. App Store to see if readers were complaining about the app – nope. So I decided to reboot my iPad, a hard reboot rather than just powering it down. To do this, by the way, you press both the sleep button at the top and the home button at the same time and keep them pressed until the iPad reboots. That did the trick.

So before proceeding, here is the magazine's own promo video about their app:

BJP for the iPad - Sneak Preview from Olivier Laurent on Vimeo.

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Bainbridge's column also says that this tablet edition is not really meant to be read in one sitting, and he is right. There is a lot of content here – both within the issue and with the live content that can be accessed through the navigation at the top of the app.

There was clearly a lot of work put into this app, and assuming that my crashing issues were my own and not tied to the app, this is a great example of what can be accomplished using the Mag+ platform. So rather than continuing to point out all the features here why not take a look yourself – that, of course, is why many publishers are offering the first issue free.

The only question going forward, of course, is can they continue to produce tablet editions of this quality? As they will be publishing quarterly they might just be able to pull it off, and the Mag+ system that works right within InDesign, makes that possible.

As for the magazine, well, it speaks for itself – this is a very good publication and is well worth the £6.99 cover price. For U.S. readers this iPad edition may be their first chance to read the magazine, and with Borders closing down, the easiest way to access the content.
Left: The TOC is huge, this is only the first page, other pages are accessed via scrolling; Right: an ad for Hasselblad takes advantage of the Mag+ platform.

The Guardian is looking to build its development team; U.K. newspaper releases its first Android app

If the key to a true commitment to digital publishing is building one's own software development team, then The Guardian appears to be moving in the right direction. Guardian media reporter Jemima Kiss tweeted about this job opening found on company's website.

The position is listed as a "Graduate Software Developer":

As a graduate joining our software development team your role will include creating, developing, managing, and maintaining our software for a variety of delivery platforms, including guardian.co.uk and our mobile apps. You will work closely with editorial and commercial teams as well as external partners.

The Guardian was quick to launch both mobile and tablet apps but have been slow to follow-up on their initial efforts. I mean really slow to follow-up: it still have only the two initial apps, one news app for the iPhone and The Guardian Eyewitness iPad app. The iPhone app has had at least two versions released, but neither app has seen an update since February.

The Guardian did, however, release its first Android app today – you can find it in the Android Market here.

Georgina Henry, the head of guardian.co.uk, said: "We've seen over half a million downloads of our re-launched iPhone app this year, and with over 150 million activated Android devices worldwide the potential audience for this product is huge."

Digital First Media created to manage both Journal Register and MediaNews Group with John Paton as CEO

Two struggling newspaper companies will now be managed by a new entity, Digital First Media, according to an announcement this morning from the Journal Register Company. I'll post some thoughts on this at the bottom of this post, but first here is the press release (also see update below with blog post from John Paton):

Journal Register Company Announces The Creation of Digital First Media Inc.

Digital First Media to Manage Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group; John Paton Named Chief Executive Officer of Digital First Media

Digital First Media to Leverage Scale Opportunities between MediaNews and Journal Register Company Creating Local News Powerhouse with more than 880 Multi-Platform Products in 18 States Serving more than 57 million Americans per month

September 7, 2011

NEW YORK, NY. – Journal Register Company, one the of nation’s leading local news and information companies, announced today the creation of Digital First Media Inc. Digital First Media will manage both Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group Inc.

John Paton, as the Chief Executive of Digital First Media, will act as CEO of both Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group.

In a separate release, MediaNews Group, the nation’s second largest newspaper company as measured by circulation, announced its appointment of Mr. Paton as CEO and the new agreement with Digital First Media. Mr. Paton, a director of Journal Register Company, has also been appointed to MediaNews Group’s board of directors. Mr. Paton and Digital First Media will report to the boards of both MediaNews Group and Journal Register Company.

This arrangement provides MediaNews and Journal Register Company with immediate cost benefits, and the ability to leverage the combined scale and expertise of both companies for their mutual benefit.

“This allows these two great companies to accelerate our Digital First strategy of transitioning from what have largely been print-centric businesses to modern, multi-platform media companies focused on local news and advertising,” said Mr. Paton, who is also a director of the Newspaper Association of America. “I am very excited to be working with MediaNews Group and the Journal Register Company teams. This initiative creates a local news powerhouse with more than 880 multi-platform products in 18 States serving more than 57 million Americans per month for the benefit of our communities, customers and employees.”

“Media News is intent on continuing its transformation from a print-oriented newspaper company to a locally focused provider of news and information across multiple platforms. At the forefront of our efforts is developing a successful digital strategy. With ‘Digital First,’ John has implemented just such a digital strategy for Journal Register Company. We are delighted to tap into John’s experience as we accelerate further our successful transition to a digital world,” said Dean Singleton, who will step down as CEO of MediaNews Group. Mr. Singleton, who is the Chairman of The Associated Press, remains Chairman of MediaNews Group and the publisher of the Denver Post and Salt Lake City Tribune.

Digital First Media represents the codification into a management company of a digital strategy that Journal Register Company has been pursuing with great success since February 2010, when John Paton was named Chief Executive Officer of Journal Register Company. MediaNews will benefit from that experience, and from cooperation with Journal Register Company, as it continues its own evolution to compete in the new media landscape.

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So, this is great news, right? "Digital first" and all that.

But is this really a move to drive digital publishing at both companies, or a way to further consolidate costs? Both companies are now owned by Alden Global Capital, so really this move was to be expected. Is the "digital first" label simply a misdirect, or is it genuine?

I've been a bit of a skeptic about the tag of "digital first" as it is being used at the Journal Register for one big reason: at least one of the big name consultants brought in by John Paton has been a huge critic of the iPad and the tablet platform, at least as it applies to Apple. TNM, on the other hand, sees this as a huge new area to be explored and developed by publishers. So far, at least, I think I have been right – and I know most TNM readers agree with me.

For me, digital means all the new digital platforms: web, mobile, tablets. At least so far I have been less than impressed with the digital publishing efforts of both these companies. But if this move means that Digital First Media will now create a digital development team that will assist their properties with launching new mobile and tablet products than this will be a great first move.

We'll see, won't we?

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Here is a blog post by John Paton, CEO of Journal Register Company, and now the head of Digital First Media, as well.

Seems like the chief executive is still batting down the objections from digital skeptics – thought that battle was over a decade ago.

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So where does this leave Dean Singleton? Singleton lost the CEO title at MediaNews Group during the bankruptcy, but retains the chairman's title. One had to assume that the money folks would be calling the shots from now on, so this seems to confirm that.

But what has happened so far, in the post bankruptcy era? Mostly consolidation as the Bay Area newspapers have been consolidated into just a few titles, with many communities losing their local papers (leaving the space to AOL's Patch and local news websites). If this truly were a "digital first" initiative I would have thought that those titles might have lived on as web entities in order to compete with the new digital news products. When you combine the loss of local nameplates with the closing of local sales offices, well, that sounds more like a cost reduction strategy than a shift in publishing strategy, doesn't it?

Morning Brief: Carol Bartz out at Yahoo! CFO Timothy Morse named interim CEO by board of directors; WSJ claims Groupon is having second thoughts about IPO

Last night the Internet was a twitter with the news that Carol Bartz had
been fired by the Yahoo! board of directors. As I don't follow new media companies as closely as old media companies attempting to do new media,
the news was a bit of a surprise to me.

So who is Timothy R. Morse, the guy who is now interim chief executive?

Yahoo! News Center:

Prior to joining Yahoo!, Morse was the CFO of Altera Corporation, a semiconductor company specializing in programmable logic devices for communications, industrial, and consumer applications, where he established scalable, cost-effective processes and controls. Morse previously served as the CFO and general manager of business development for General Electric Plastics. A 15-year veteran of GE, Morse also held a variety of positions at GE Plastics, GE Appliances and GE Capital in North America, Europe and Asia.

Morse holds a bachelor's degree in finance and operations and strategic management from the Boston College Carroll School of Management.

Yes, there will be a search for a new CEO, get your resumes updated.

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9to5Mac: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz canned, sends farewell via iPad

Mike Elgan Google+ post: Bartz is fired over the phone. She announces via iPad. Finally Yahoo seems to understand mobile.

More piling on, this one from paidContent.org: How Bartz Didn’t Help Yahoo Mobile

Meanwhile, in mobile advertising, where the company should have been singing, it’s been way out of tune. Stats from IDC show that Yahoo has been losing market share in mobile advertising, even as the market has been booming. Efforts to launch new display ad formats and more localized content may have given a boost to its ad business but the benefits would have only been seen on its own properties, rather than the long tail of wider internet content.

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So is Groupon reconsidering going public now? The WSJ sure thinks so.

There are lots of reasons an IPO from Groupon might not be a good idea. First, of course, there is the economy and the fact that the market has been sliding pretty badly. But investors don't know where to put their money right now with interest rates low, many foreign nations in deep trouble. etc.

Recent stock-market gyrations are scaring off some high-profile IPOs. A handful of Web companies have been at the center of an investor frenzy this year, fueled by the splashy debuts of companies such as professional networking site LinkedIn Corp. and real-estate site Zillow Inc.

But I have to think this is all about Groupon.

Groupon, in particular, has grappled with a series of missteps. When the company filed to go public in early June, it attracted criticism for its high marketing costs and unprofitable business. The company was also asked by the Securities and Exchange Commission to remove an unusual accounting metric, dubbed Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income, which painted a more robust picture of its performance.

Last week, the SEC also contacted a Groupon attorney over a different matter, said a person familiar with the situation: a leaked internal memo from Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason to his staff, in which he touted the company and blasted its critics. Making public statements about the financial status of a company during an IPO process is prohibited by SEC rules.

What to think about "...trade magazines that occasionally commit acts of journalism"

The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal has a few thoughts on the TechCrunch/Michael Arrington issue (he wants to run an investment fund that would put money into companies being written about on the website):

Many websites are functioning largely as trade magazines that occasionally commit acts of journalism. Techcrunch, and Mashable to an even greater extent, are more like the new American Thresherman and Farm Power or Stone World or Successful Farming than they are the new New York Times. But it's hard to know when they're acting like the Times an when they are acting like Pluming and Mechanical Magazine.

First, it is clear that Madrigal needs an editor because the typos contained above are in the original post (and still there as I write this). Second, he certainly has a point about the niche these tech sites fill in the greater media world.

But I wouldn't elevate the NYT too much when looking at this issue, which is my criticism of David Carr's column. So I guess I'm just not all that concerned that anything Michael Arrington has done in the past, does now, or does in the future will in any way cause damage to journalism. The great advocates of the trade have already done enough damage, thank you.

Retail circulars go digital as newspapers work to find their own alternatives to preprint inserts

While many media writes obsess with the efforts to newspapers to install online paywalls, the revenue battle may be going on in the arena of preprint inserts, those Sunday circulars that have been a cash cow from so many newspapers for decades. Along with retail display advertising, these preprints have been slowly declining over the years as more and more advertising switch to digital alternatives.

But these inserts are a vital part of the revenue picture for newspapers, accounting from a large chunk – 35 to 40 percent – of newspaper retail advertising (and with classified advertising continuing to fall, this revenue category grows in importance.)

But the trickle of advertisers leaving the Sunday paper may become a flood if Google and other media alternatives can convince more retailers to explore the value to digital catalogs read through tablets and e-readers.

Some retailers, such as Target (see at right), Nordstrom and Ikea have launched branded iPad apps for their catalogs. While Target for iPad was launched under their own name, the Nordstrom app, Nordstrom The Catalogs, was released by Synapse Group. (Ikea's app, seen in this post, appears under their own name in the App Store.)

The move to tablet versions of retailer catalogs has tremendous momentum because in addition to developers who are looking to create branded apps for the retailers, big names like Google are pushing to have retailers include their catalogs in their own apps. Google Catalogs was released into the App Store a few weeks ago and is an attractive iPad app, though the app does crash and is in need of an important update as the app is essentially unusable in its present form.

Catalogue by TheFind.com is also digitizing retailer catalogs and recently updated their app, which now includes the circular from Best Buy. This app has many of the same retailers in it that the Google app does showing that their is both duplication and a lack of barrier to entry in the platform.

Left: Catalogue by Find.com recently added Best Buy circulars to its offerings; Right: the Google Catalogs app is attractive but needs an update as it crashes far too frequently to be useful.

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The problem facing newspapers (and the postal service) is that retailers have been building their own databases through loyalty programs. But while these programs allow them to market directly to their customer base, they can not act as a substitute for their printed catalogs which can reach new customers and a mass market.

But the decline in newspaper subscriptions means the Sunday paper may be a less attractive vehicle for retailers. This may explain the move by the Chicago Tribune to use Groupon to try and drive Sunday subscriptions by offering a very cut rate Sunday only subscription. The loss in circulation revenue, while important, pales in comparison to the prospect of losing insert advertising.

But the newspaper industry's reaction to the digital threat to its inserts has been slow and runs counter to the efforts of many newspapers to drive online subscriptions. In the end, free models will have a distinct advantage over paid models here if the key criteria is market penetration. On the other hand, market penetration will remain a huge barrier to climb for the new digital catalog distributors, as well. That gives newspapers a small window to come up with their own alternatives before Google or others finally take this business permanently.

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Like many newspaper and magazine publications being converted to the tablet platform, the retail catalog products are mostly replica editions of their print products. Some catalogs are attempting to enhance the reader experience by adding more native features in order to assist the potential buyer in making a product decision, while others simply add a few web links to their digital catalogs.

The Target branded app, for instance, can find your local store in order to deliver the proper circular, and contains some other features like Daily Deals. But circular itself is difficult to read due to the lack of a zoom capability. To get a better look at a product one has to tap on the product which pulls up the same information and picture in a new window – hardly improving the experience.

The Nordstrom app does have pinch to zoom, however. It also has a "Show Products" button which allows buyers to get more information on the products.

Just like digital newsstands, I think we will see some of new features found in the native apps move over to the replica apps soon as retailers demand more than just digital reproductions of their print catalogs.

Why wait to actual see a device to pass judgement?

Is it really necessary to see a new tech device before passing judgement on it? Here is Forbes's contributor Chunka Mui responding to a post by TechCrunch's M.G. Siegler:

My reading of the details, however, is that the Amazon tablet is not going to be all that huge. Barnes and Noble should be afraid. Apple, however, has little to fear.

The author then recounts Siegler's post where Siegler, who has seen the new Amazon Kindle tablet that is at the center of the story here, talks about how the tablet's form factor is more like those of the BlackBerry PlayBook and other 7-inch tablets.

He (Chunka Mui) may be right, but one would think that waiting until they have actually seen and used a device may be the best time to write a review of the device. But whatever, guess I'm old fashioned. But if this is considere the new way to do reviews then writing movie reviews just became a lot easier.

Morning Brief: Bonuses and layoffs; Time Magazine looks at the zine world; soap opera times at a tech news site

Just in time for the weekend News Corp. released its annual statement which includes information on corporate information about the size of bonuses being handed out to the guys in the corporate suites.

James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer, and embroiled in the phone hacking scandal in the U.K., is scheduled to receive a $6 million bonus, a rather hefty 75 percent increase in his 2010 pay. But according to The Guardian he has is feeling a little awkward about the bonus:

But in a statement on Friday night, James Murdoch said he would not be taking the bonus in "light of the current controversy" over phone hacking at the News of the World. "I feel that declining the bonus is the right thing to do," he said.

Maybe he knew this news was coming down today: News International, the U.K. division he has run, announced that it would cut 110 positions. Tom Mockbridge, chief executive at News International said in a statement that so far 89 former News of the World employees have decided to take the company up on its severance offer while 23 employees have taken other positions at the company.

“These proposals are the result of long-standing plans which I, and the rest of the executive team, believe to be key to ensuring our titles, our brands and our future in print and digital remain an indispensable part of the national and international media," Mockbridge said in the announcement.

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Time Magazine this last week looked at the "zine" phenomenon, the independent magazines, often labors of love, put out by writers and editors in their spare time.

Edited by Jenna Wortham, a staff technology reporter at the New York Times, and Thessaly La Force, the former online editor for the Paris Review, Girl Crush is part of a resurgence in the zine form, particularly among media professionals. Like their rough-around-the-edges predecessors, these zines are independently published and precise in their editorial vision, but they have more star power and more mainstream editorial influence. Strikingly, often the same men and women who are helping to keep large media outlets afloat by day are also the ones going home and working on indie publishing efforts by night.

Something about the article reads like an ode to print versus the web, and nothing is mentioned about the other option now available, publishing via tablet or eReaders.

But the real underlying story is about why these types of magazines don't get the ire of the mainstream media companies that employ these editors during the week. The answer is that as long as the ad teams are left out of the equation the corporate players really don't see these independent publications as anything other than an opportunity for some editors to blow off some steam.

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Are you following the Tech Crunch soap opera? In a nutshell, the issue revolves around whether Michael Arrington has stepped down as editor of the AOL owned tech site to run a venture capital fund – Arianna Huffington told the NYT's David Carr "yes", while Arrington said, well, something else.

Carr wrote on Sunday that "It’s now hard to know whether AOL is Mr. Arrington’s partner, client, employer or banker."

It's a fun little drama, I suppose, but I always see these things resolving the same way: someone gets rich (Arrington sold TechCrunch to AOL for $30 million) and someone gets fired (might end being the same person, or it could be the internal people writing about the saga (no links to protect the offenders).

The New Republic launches its first tablet edition, a hybrid app that combines the print magazine with a news app

It's September 1st, a couple of days before the Labor Day holiday – not necessarily a good time to launch a new magazine app if you want to get people's attention, but maybe a good time to launch if you want to introduce an app and have time to work out its bugs.

Today The New Republic launched its first iPad app – it has an iPhone app that a few users have described as buggy. This app, too, has a major issue with it, but we'll get to that in a second.

The app takes a hybrid approach: it is a tablet news app, combined with access to the print magazine issues. I think this is an excellent approach for a lot of magazines, especially those media outlets that have bloggers, lots of news, politics, etc.

The app itself, The New Republic for iPad, is free to download and currently gives readers access to the content for 14 days. After that the publisher is offering monthly subscriptions for $3.99 per month, or an annual subscription for $39.99 per year. Current subscribers can also log into their accounts to gain access.

To be fair to this app, which really does look good, I will want to return to it after the Labor Day holiday. The reason for this is that the app's news app approach looks interesting, but the magazine part is a problem.

One accesses the magazines through the navigation located on the bottom-left of the app. That pulls up options for different section which include Politics & World, Books & Arts, Blogs, Slideshows & Video, Magazine, and Editor's Choice.

The problem is that the first magazine listed simply can't be downloaded. I think the issue is that it doesn't actually exist on their servers right now so it gives you a spinning wheel that simply never results in an actual issue.

But if you go on to older issues you see what The New Republic's approach is going to be. This app doesn't present the reader with a replica edition (yeah) but instead goes for a more eReader approach with adjustable fonts in lieu of pinch-to-zoom. Unfortunately, pressing the A+ button to increase the font size resulted in a blank screen. I then went back and tried a different story and found that the font size had changed. Pressing the button again, however, again resulted in a blank screen.

Unfortunately, that means the developer will need to be working this weekend to start fixing the bugs in this app. That developer is 3Advance.com, the Paul Murphy led company.

As I wrote above, this app takes a nice approach and when the bugs are worked out, may end up being an excellent app. My first look was rather cursory, but I encountered enough problems that one hopes an update comes very quickly.

Last thought: this is another of those ad-free apps that will have to rely on enough reader enthusiasm to make it successful in any sort of business sense, so publishers who have ad-dependent publications won't find any new ideas here about how to incorporate advertising into their natively designed tablet publications.

Rutgers brags up its integration of the iPad into programs

This is a little follow-up to the story posted this morning about my "back to school night" experience last night. This is some excerpts from a press release just sent out today.

What is strange here is that this reads like an ad for Apple, but it is actually from Rutgers University. Clearly they are using their use of the iPad as a way of attracting students, but I found the playing up of the iPad 2 interesting:

Now in its second year of integrating the Apple iPad into its digital marketing executive courses, Rutgers Center for Management Development (CMD) calls the tablet a resounding success as a teaching medium. Rutgers CMD instructors incorporate Layar, Regus and WorkSnug augmented reality apps, Evernote and WebEx collaboration apps, Foursquare and Yelp location apps, and the Qrafter QR app into the curriculum.

The newest Rutgers CMD course to integrate an iPad 2 is Going Digital: The New Rules of PR, a joint effort of Business Wire and Rutgers CMD, to be held in New York City, September 19-22, 2011. The course fee includes all instructional materials on a pre-loaded iPad 2.

"We are constantly looking for ways to integrate new technologies, such as the iPad2, into our programs to deliver a unique executive education experience. Having spent the past year optimizing the iPad to replace printed binders and to enhance collaboration among participants, we are now moving into the more exciting areas of augmented reality and virtual worlds. The advances with the iPad 2 have truly brought the 21st century digital world into our Mini-MBA programs," said Eric Greenberg, Director of Marketing Programs, CMD, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Greenberg continued, "Our faculty and executives loved the original iPad, but the iPad 2, with its front- and rear-facing camera, allows us to be more creative in transforming the learning experience and untethering participants from the traditional classroom dynamics. And best of all, we find that the more innovative we are in integrating the iPad, the richer the experience for our marketing professionals."

You can read the whole release here.

The detail I would like to point out here is that the release isn't just talking about replacing books with tablets, but what the new tech device can bring to the table overall. In other words, they are not just treating the iPad as a reader (hint, hint).

Things I learned at school (yesterday): technology edition

Back to school night is the time when teachers and school administrators get to watch hundreds of parents wander aimlessly through the halls of their school looking for the right classroom, only to sit for five minutes and then get up and do it all over again.

Last night I got to attend one of these events thanks to my wife being called away for a company meeting at corporate headquarters, thanks dear. The experience wasn't too horrible and there were actually a few ideas I could take away from the evening.

For one thing, it is great to see teachers using websites and text messaging to remind students of homework assignments. But does each teacher have to use a different vendor? That makes for half a dozen website addresses to remember, and no one to go from one teacher to the other within the same website.

The other takeaway was how technology either is wasted in many classrooms, or else brings in a whole new set of skills.

The last class I visited last evening contained the most unique classroom set up I saw. rather than individual desks there were five or six larger desks where four students could gather around. On the desk was two iPad sitting on top of stands – they were most like NuGuard stands which you can see above-left.

The teacher didn't have much time to explain her class so she used a short video which she had created using iMovie – it wasn't impressive and the same thing information could have been conveyed with a couple of slides or even a few lines written with chalk on a board.

But the teacher was definitely using those iPads to advantage. Since it is impossible to require that each student bring in a laptop to class, the iPads are a way to allowing students to find information themselves, to teach them how to find information themselves.

This skill set is probably the most important thing students learn today. Is it really important to know what year Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo? Or is it more important to teach the student how to access this information quickly? (It was 1815, by the way. And that horrid Abba song of the same name came out in 1974.)

While tech people might see this little story as an example of how the iPad is winning the tablet wars (there is a war?), for me there is something more important going on. If that teacher was simply using new technology to teach the same lessons in the same way the iPad would be used essentially as a electronic text book. That would be a waste. Instead it is used to bring in new information, quicker and more interactively. Two iPads per desk, two students per iPad. It is easy to see the advantages here – no student can sit idly back and not participate, each student's pace of learning can be accelerated by joining with another student.

New technology, new methods of learning.

Now I know the same thing could be accomplished in other ways, and if money were no object every desk could have its own computer, but I don't live in Beverly Hills. No, those iPads were bought using a grant, but that grant needed be ridiculously large. How much does it cost to buy ten to twelve iPads? Unfortunately it doesn't appear that Apple is offering discounts on iPads for schools but my guess is that each iPad was the $499 model so the math is pretty easy to figure out. Those stands, too, were not bad: $15 a piece online.

One could go on and on about the advantages of iPads in education – no cords, long battery life, etc. – but that's not the point. New technology presents the opportunity for new ways of learning, new platforms, new products.

Or . . . one can simply continue down the same road with a new vehicle – like the farmer that buys a truck rather than a car because he can't figure out where the horse would go in the car. Publishers who only bring their products to tablets and mobile as replica editions are putting the horse in the passenger seat and end up wondering what the big deal is the new technology.

New technology, new platforms, new products.