Inkling App Provides College Textbooks for iPad
One of the most common questions regarding enhancements for ebooks is whether they actually contribute to the text rather than distract from it. Many have [correctly] noted that these additions may serve only as marketing ploys, a justification to increase the price from the conspicuously low precedents set by publishers (or more accurately, Jeff Bezos). However, there are some enhancements that do undeniably enrich the overall user experience. Inkling, a tech start-up founded by former Apple employee Matt Mac Innis, recently announced some exceptionally contributory enhancements for a burgeoning category of ebooks – etextbooks.
On August 20th, Inkling released an app that provides college textbooks for the iPad. Although only four titles from McGraw-Hill are currently available, Inkling has also announced “content development partnerships” with Cengage Learning, John Wiley & Sons and Wolters Kluwer. “The partnerships are centered around joint development of interactive content.”
The textbooks feature interactive quizzes, high-resolution images, searchable text, “tapable” key terms linking to an interactive glossary, and a social network through which users can post their notes online and “follow” other students’ and professors’ commentary. Each textbook also boasts individualized elements. For example, the app’s version of the Biology textbook (9th edition) by Peter Raven, George Johnson, Kenneth Mason & Jonathan B. Losos has interactive 3-D images of molecules similar to the Elements app.
Marketing (10th edition) by Roger A. Kerin, Steven Hartley, and William Rudelius has examples of advertisements, diagrams and photographs in addition to video case studies integrated throughout the text. Also available are Experience Psychology by Laura A. King and The Micro Economy Today (12th edition) by Bradley R. Schiller.
Particularly worth noting is the unique pricing. Prices start at $69.99 per book, approximately 30% off regular textbook prices. Better yet, Inkling plans to do for textbooks what iTunes did for albums, offering individual chapters for purchase instead of forcing consumers to buy the entire book. Professors who have been limited to a single textbook per subject—or forced to find ways to replicate source materials from numerous tomes—will potentially have the ability to offer their favorite materials digitally on a chapter by chapter basis, with students paying only for what they need at prices starting at $2.99 per chapter.
For more information about Inkling and to download the free app, visit www.inkling.com.












