14 ms·

People have been talking about the economics of the iPad seemingly implying that it is more expensive. For schools right now textbooks are really expensive and

by nirvana 15y ago

People have been talking about the economics of the iPad seemingly implying that it is more expensive. For schools right now textbooks are really expensive and textbook management is expensive as well (a lot of bulk to move around and account for, etc.) Since school districts have to pay for all this, lets do some rough numbers.... Lets assume you're talking about a high school, they have four grades, 9, 10, 11 & 12 and are on a semester system. How many classes does each student take a semester? 10? 7? (My high school was run like a college so my experience isn't typical. We took 10 classes each semester and had 2.5 textbooks per class (english classes often had 6-7 books) Each class requires how many text books? 1.2? 2? If we assume lower numbers for a typical high school, 4 grades, 1.2 text books per class, 2 semesters per year, 7 classes per semester and a textbook cost of $80 is 4 x 1.2 x 2 x 7 x 80 = $5,376 in text books to put one student thru the whole four years. Alternatively, the school could buy one iPad, and with an average textbook cost of $15 and everything else the same the calculation is: 4 x 1.2 x 2 x 7 x 15 + $500 = $1,508. We can assume in both cases, the iPad and the Texbooks last 3 years (6 semesters, and 6 different students) before having to be replaced. To me, the iPad solution looks cheaper, and all the other benefits- less weight, more interactivity, etc, come for free. Edit: Left out a term in the second calculation, so corrected, and using asterisks for multiplication resulted in bad formatting, so fixed.

Zakuzaa 15y ago
Plus you also get an ipad for life.
- nirvana 15y ago
  That would be the case if we were talking about college, where, 20 years ago textbooks were easily $100, and you had more of them per class. I think the economics work even better there... But I'm using High School as the example and assuming the district is paying the costs and keeping textbooks and iPads on average for 3 years. Some people have claimed that iPads won't last very long... but Apple offers AppleCare+ (at least for the iPhone, I expect they'll offer even better warrantees for school districts.) AppleCare+ will replace a damaged device up to three times for $49 over the course of 3 years, IIRC. I think the economics are great for high schools, but positively spectacular for colleges (and I'm assuming college textbooks are no longer as cheap as $100, and that the resell situation is as bad- we'd be lucky to get $15 on resale, and the books were bound with glue designed to fall apart over the course of a single semester.)
  - jesseendahl 15y ago
    Up to two times over two years.[1] Still pretty good though. [1]: http://store.apple.com/us/product/S4575LL/A http://store.apple.com/us/product/S4575LL/A
mdwrigh2 15y ago
> We can assume in both cases, the iPad and the Texbooks last 3 years (6 semesters, and 6 different students) before having to be replaced. I suspect this assumption is flawed. Textbooks will last much longer than an iPad, especially once you start considering theft. The downside of this setup to me is that the students would need the iPads at home to do homework. So either you let the students take them from the class room (where I suspect they will get stolen relatively frequently), or require students to own their own iPad (which isn't really feasible). If this solution had a way of viewing the books via a computer as well, then it starts to become feasible.
- nirvana 15y ago
  I'm assuming the students take the textbooks home from school and would do the same with the iPad. I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long. Textbooks fall apart, this is how the textbook industry gets revenue from replacement. iPads generally don't fall apart. I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone. If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable. This would be relatively easy for Apple to implement and is the kind of thing they would do if they're entering into agreements to sell large numbers of iPads to school districts. Thus stealing a school iPad makes little sense- the machine would have no value after a week. Edit: He proposed a problem with my perspective, I proposed a solution. So, naturally, I'm being down voted.
  - mdwrigh2 15y ago
    > I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long. According to some answers on Quora[1], textbooks are replaced closer to every 7 - 10 years, so, again, I suspect you're wrong in that they won't last as long. They're quite durable. > I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone. If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable. I agree that there are some solutions, but given how much there is to be gained by someone figuring out how to bypass it, I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out how to. Even given that textbook theft and iPad theft will be equivalent in dollars (that is, for every iPad that's stolen 5 - 10 textbooks are stolen), I would still question that calculation. For example, the $15/textbook only holds when iBooks is not the sole distribution channel. When it is, publishers can set their own price. Now, don't get me wrong, I would love for this to work. I think this is a great idea. I'm just frustrated that it only works on the iPad, rather than being open and having a great app for the iPad. Being able to transition into it by using laptops, computer labs and iPads simultaneously would just be so much easier.
bradleyjg 15y ago
The recommended k-12 textbook replacement cycle is generally six years. Of course, there is damage and loss that has to be taken into account, but districts generally try to stretch their purchases out at least that long.
- nirvana 15y ago
  I believe that they go 6 years between changing the edition or textbook they are using. I don't believe the actual text books last that long. Surely some last longer and some don't last nearly as long. The 3 years I chose was based on the average time that textbooks lasted in my high school. (I worked in the text book department during school, and that was the time period, though it may have been 3.5 years.)
  - JayWilmont 15y ago
    At high school they finally found the money to replace the history textbooks once the books were the same age as the students studying them (the actual physical textbooks were at least 8 years old when I was a freshmen in HS).
  - jonhendry 15y ago
    How often would schools like to get new books?
CraigRood 15y ago
You are assuming that textbooks are gifts to the children and are never returned and re-used.
- nirvana 15y ago
  No, I'm not. In both cases I'm assuming they are owned by the school and giving the costs to provide them for one child through the four years of school.
  - CraigRood 15y ago
    Schools already have books so the only ones bought are those to replace. Occasionally a new batch may be bought, but not at a rate of every book, every 4 years. Based on your maths if you consider that each student uses 17 individual books per year, now consider that 2 are scrapped and need to be replace the cost for that year for that students is only 2 * book cost ($80). So $160. Now consider that they attend for 4 years, thats only $640. Not thousands. Even if they are scrapped every 4 years, the cost only becomes $1,280 per student. So to go paperless from the current system the device and content needs to be less than $640 for the students entire attendance at that school (4 years). A device like the iPad won't last 4 years in an education system, not including the battery life and software support by Apple. Great for a private school, but as the education system currently stands. No way.
neilparikh 15y ago
Textbooks can last for way more than 3 years. Right now, my math textbook is in great condition, and just by looking at how many names it has in it, it probably has been used for at at least 4 years, and at this rate, it'll probably last for another 3 or 4 years, and that's a conservative number too. My school has 4 classes per semester, and a lot of times electives, like construction, art, mechanics etc. don't have textbooks, so even if we go by 7 classes per semester, we can probably cut the amount of classes that require textbooks in half. And if you factor in the fact that textbooks can last 6 years (going by my anecdotal evidence), you can get the textbook and iPad price quite similar. In this case, schools may go with the iPad anyway, given the push made by made schools to provide students with digital literacy.

by nirvana 15y ago

Zakuzaa 15y ago

Plus you also get an ipad for life.

nirvana 15y ago
That would be the case if we were talking about college, where, 20 years ago textbooks were easily $100, and you had more of them per class. I think the economics work even better there... But I'm using High School as the example and assuming the district is paying the costs and keeping textbooks and iPads on average for 3 years. Some people have claimed that iPads won't last very long... but Apple offers AppleCare+ (at least for the iPhone, I expect they'll offer even better warrantees for school districts.) AppleCare+ will replace a damaged device up to three times for $49 over the course of 3 years, IIRC. I think the economics are great for high schools, but positively spectacular for colleges (and I'm assuming college textbooks are no longer as cheap as $100, and that the resell situation is as bad- we'd be lucky to get $15 on resale, and the books were bound with glue designed to fall apart over the course of a single semester.)
- jesseendahl 15y ago
  Up to two times over two years.[1] Still pretty good though. [1]: http://store.apple.com/us/product/S4575LL/A http://store.apple.com/us/product/S4575LL/A

mdwrigh2 15y ago

> We can assume in both cases, the iPad and the Texbooks last 3 years (6 semesters, and 6 different students) before having to be replaced. I suspect this assumption is flawed. Textbooks will last much longer than an iPad, especially once you start considering theft. The downside of this setup to me is that the students would need the iPads at home to do homework. So either you let the students take them from the class room (where I suspect they will get stolen relatively frequently), or require students to own their own iPad (which isn't really feasible). If this solution had a way of viewing the books via a computer as well, then it starts to become feasible.

nirvana 15y ago
I'm assuming the students take the textbooks home from school and would do the same with the iPad. I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long. Textbooks fall apart, this is how the textbook industry gets revenue from replacement. iPads generally don't fall apart. I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone. If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable. This would be relatively easy for Apple to implement and is the kind of thing they would do if they're entering into agreements to sell large numbers of iPads to school districts. Thus stealing a school iPad makes little sense- the machine would have no value after a week. Edit: He proposed a problem with my perspective, I proposed a solution. So, naturally, I'm being down voted.
- mdwrigh2 15y ago
  > I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long. According to some answers on Quora[1], textbooks are replaced closer to every 7 - 10 years, so, again, I suspect you're wrong in that they won't last as long. They're quite durable. > I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone. If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable. I agree that there are some solutions, but given how much there is to be gained by someone figuring out how to bypass it, I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out how to. Even given that textbook theft and iPad theft will be equivalent in dollars (that is, for every iPad that's stolen 5 - 10 textbooks are stolen), I would still question that calculation. For example, the $15/textbook only holds when iBooks is not the sole distribution channel. When it is, publishers can set their own price. Now, don't get me wrong, I would love for this to work. I think this is a great idea. I'm just frustrated that it only works on the iPad, rather than being open and having a great app for the iPad. Being able to transition into it by using laptops, computer labs and iPads simultaneously would just be so much easier.

bradleyjg 15y ago

The recommended k-12 textbook replacement cycle is generally six years. Of course, there is damage and loss that has to be taken into account, but districts generally try to stretch their purchases out at least that long.

nirvana 15y ago
I believe that they go 6 years between changing the edition or textbook they are using. I don't believe the actual text books last that long. Surely some last longer and some don't last nearly as long. The 3 years I chose was based on the average time that textbooks lasted in my high school. (I worked in the text book department during school, and that was the time period, though it may have been 3.5 years.)
- JayWilmont 15y ago
  At high school they finally found the money to replace the history textbooks once the books were the same age as the students studying them (the actual physical textbooks were at least 8 years old when I was a freshmen in HS).
- jonhendry 15y ago
  How often would schools like to get new books?

CraigRood 15y ago

You are assuming that textbooks are gifts to the children and are never returned and re-used.

nirvana 15y ago
No, I'm not. In both cases I'm assuming they are owned by the school and giving the costs to provide them for one child through the four years of school.
- CraigRood 15y ago
  Schools already have books so the only ones bought are those to replace. Occasionally a new batch may be bought, but not at a rate of every book, every 4 years. Based on your maths if you consider that each student uses 17 individual books per year, now consider that 2 are scrapped and need to be replace the cost for that year for that students is only 2 * book cost ($80). So $160. Now consider that they attend for 4 years, thats only $640. Not thousands. Even if they are scrapped every 4 years, the cost only becomes $1,280 per student. So to go paperless from the current system the device and content needs to be less than $640 for the students entire attendance at that school (4 years). A device like the iPad won't last 4 years in an education system, not including the battery life and software support by Apple. Great for a private school, but as the education system currently stands. No way.

neilparikh 15y ago

Textbooks can last for way more than 3 years. Right now, my math textbook is in great condition, and just by looking at how many names it has in it, it probably has been used for at at least 4 years, and at this rate, it'll probably last for another 3 or 4 years, and that's a conservative number too. My school has 4 classes per semester, and a lot of times electives, like construction, art, mechanics etc. don't have textbooks, so even if we go by 7 classes per semester, we can probably cut the amount of classes that require textbooks in half. And if you factor in the fact that textbooks can last 6 years (going by my anecdotal evidence), you can get the textbook and iPad price quite similar. In this case, schools may go with the iPad anyway, given the push made by made schools to provide students with digital literacy.