Today, Apple announced a K-12 textbook initiative and a desktop application for creating and publishing content for the iBooks app. Many of you have asked for Inkling’s take on it, and what it means to us, so here are some thoughts.

First, we think this is great for students. After more than a decade of digital textbook mediocrity, Apple is once again helping to move an entire industry forward. Although only a handful of titles were made available today, they’re exposing a broader audience to the possibilities than we could have by ourselves.

Second, we think it’s great for Inkling. Apple’s marketing machine will stimulate demand for better digital learning content across every segment, not just within K-12. That’s a rising tide that floats all boats. It helps people understand that the future of digital learning content isn’t a book on a screen, but an engaging multimedia experience. Finally, the notion of a flat “e-book” is dead.

Third, Inkling is solving for a problem left unresolved in today’s announcements. Although Apple introduced some beautiful content, there are miles to go before this industry scales itself around building products that are “born” digital. To do so will take sophisticated tools and a cross-platform, open infrastructure that has yet to materialize. We’ll have more to share on this topic in the coming months.

In the meantime, Inkling will continue to set the bar for learning content in higher education and beyond. Inkling titles incorporate sophisticated assessment, interactive media, modular content that you can buy by the chapter, and a meaningful social experience that connects students with instructors.

We were flattered to see what looked like many Inkling-inspired ideas on stage today. For our part, we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing: building the world’s greatest software for digital learning content.

It was an exciting start to the year for digital learning technologies—but that’s just the beginning, so stay tuned.

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Get 20%* off any title Want a textbook that can think, play, and still save you money? Try Inkling’s Smartbooks, and get 20% off any book at inkling.com/store now through February 17th. Find your book, add it to your cart, and enter the code “smartbook20” during checkout for 20% off. You can even share the code with friends. Go on, learn a little.

TERMS

*20% off discount applies to purchases on Inkling.com/store. The discount is applied to one item in your cart and is applied during checkout. If you have multiple items in your cart, the discount is applied to the most expensive item. This promotion expires at 11:59 PM PST on February 17, 2012. Additional Terms and Conditions apply.

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A year ago today, Inkling celebrated its first birthday with the release of Inkling 1.0 for iPad and our first few interactive textbooks. Now, a year later, we’re celebrating our second birthday with Inkling 2.0 for iPad and nearly 50 of the world’s most popular undergraduate, business and medical textbooks. Aside from continuing our back-to-school habit of releasing new software, we’re another step closer to realizing our vision for the future of the textbook.

Inkling 2.0 scratches another itch we’ve felt about textbooks: they’re isolating. While it’s certainly useful to focus on your studies, it’s also important to talk to people about what you’re learning. That’s why Inkling now includes the collective wisdom of everyone who’s ever used your textbook. Ask a question inside the textbook, get an answer. Have a conversation with your professor, or a professor at another school. It’s a huge resource, and it’s wrapped inside every Inkling textbook.

All of this is on top of the media richness, interactivity, and comfortable usability of everything Inkling offers. It’s not just the world’s most engaging textbook; it’s now the world’s most connected textbook, too.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in Inkling 2.0:
 
Study groups, evolved
Have discussions anywhere in the book with anyone who also uses it, including classmates, professors, Facebook friends, or people from anywhere in the world. If you have a question, odds are, someone’s got a good answer.

An expert in every book
Virtually every Inkling title has a designated “expert,” someone who knows the information inside and out. Follow the notes of the expert and you’ll see theirs in a different color. Plus, suggested discussions and popular comments help you grasp concepts more quickly and focus your attention on the stuff that matters most.

The ultimate study guide
Now, Inkling organizes all the notes, highlights, bookmarks and links that you create and “star” into one handy spot: the notebook. Instantly saved to the cloud, your notebook is like a friend who takes notes for you. You’ll be automatically building a study guide as you read.

Search beyond the book
Now, search results from Wikipedia or Google appear right inside in the book. You can even save them to the notebook for instant study access.

There’s even more inside Inkling 2.0. Curious about the evolution of your textbook on Inkling? Grab a free chapter of any of our titles and give it a shot.

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