1) In US high schools, the students don't generally buy the books, the school does. They often use them for several years in a row. Publishers know this when pr

1) In US high schools, the students don't generally buy the books, the school does. They often use them for several years in a row. Publishers know this when pricing them. So on one hand, they give up the high price point, but on the other, they (maybe) get an annual stream of revenue. I say maybe because schools could likely buy iPads and load them with books, then lend those out year after year. In fact, that could be hugely economical. If you standardize around a book for 4 years or so, you can literally leave the devices "as-is" and not do OS updates or anything. The publishers don't really have a choice. If they don't buy in, some upstart publishing house could swoop in and eat their market. Apple has just lowered the barrier to entry significantly. 2) This argument comes up all the time with new technology. The cost isn't going to be a factor forever. The reality is that kids of the future are going to need a computing device to get work done, especially by high school. If the recent trend is a guide, that device is likely to look more like an iPad than a desktop computer. When I was a college freshman 16 years ago), only the rich kids had cell phones. A basic cell phone can be had for a very affordable price now. 3) They're not looking to make money on the books. They're looking to recover costs and take on Amazon. iBooks is a backwater compared to Kindle and Apple has got to know it. The only way to compete is to do something different from what everyone else is doing. This is a classic Apple move. They didn't take on Microsoft in the enterprise with the Mac, they went after the home market which gave them more freedom to operate.