Apple iBooks2 Fail or How I Wasted $14.99

by on January 23, 2012

By now, most educators have heard of Apple’s announcement last week that promised to revolutionize the textbook market. I believe that digital, interactive textbooks are the wave of the future. It makes sense – newspapers, magazines and so on have gone digital and many are also interactive. Therefore, I couldn’t wait to try out iBooks2 and their interactive textbooks.

My Enthusiasm Was Short-Lived

Many reviews of  interactive textbooks focus on Life on Earth and it looks spectacular – take a look at this video from Engadget:

After seeing this demo I was more than excited to try out some of the math textbook offerings. Having taught math for many years, I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for me. So off I went and decided that I Geometry(Common Core Edition) would be a great one to try.  After all, geometry practically screams out for interactive, media-rich presentations!

Even at $14.99 I was hoping for some sort of trial and fortunately there is a sample button. Better to be safe than sorry! But, I clicked on the sample button and here is what I got:

iBooks1

Really? I’m already in iBooks!!!!

Ok, I’ll bite the bullet and see if actually paying for the book makes any difference. Of course there was no problem getting the book when paying but what is the purpose of the Get Sample button?

Let’s Give It a Try

The book is approximately 1.2 GB in size and does take awhile to download. I mention this only because if you plan to use an iPad for textbooks, music, movies, apps, etc. the 16 GB model will not be a good choice!

I opened up iBooks and selected my new Geometry textbook. It took 30 seconds to load on my iPad 1. That is totally unacceptable but maybe the content will make up for it. I thought to myself, what topic really lends itself to animated illustrations? Transformations!!! I used the Table of Contents to navigate to reflections and here is what I got:

Geometry2

No media, no interactivity, not anything I was expecting. I continued to search the book using the index (which was extraordinarily slow) and didn’t find anything resembling an interactive textbook! Basically, it seems like a huge pdf file!!!! To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly!

Unfortunately, That Was Only the Beginning of My Disappointment!

So far, a huge textbook, no sampler, slow loading time and no media interactivity should be enough to give a big thumbs down. And, it is! But that’s not the biggest problem! The textbook crashes constantly!!!! Just getting ready to write this post I had to reboot my iPad just to get it not to crash. So, the relatively simple chore of “opening” this textbook took me approximately 5 minutes!!!! And, who knows how long before it crashes again?

Totally Unusable

This textbook is totally unusable on an iPad1. Yes, I know the iPad 3 is just around the corner but is the iPad 1 obsolete in under 2 years? I guess so if you want to use the new iBooks!

Repercussions for Educators

  • Can schools afford the hardware needed for these textbooks?
  • Can teachers wait and wait for their new digital iBook to open? I used to think repeating the page numbers to students who were not paying attention was irritating. I can’t imagine waiting and waiting for each student to open this iBook!!
  • What are teachers to do when the app crashes?

There are so many negatives with my initial experience with this “revolutionary” technology that make me scratch my head and wonder why? I am sincerely hoping that things will change for the better. But in the meantime, is there anyway I can get my $14.99 back?

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Tagged as: App Store, Apple, Education, iBook, ITunes Store, Textbook

  • http://twitter.com/MayraAixaVillar Mayra Aixa Villar

    Thanks to God I couldn´t download Ibooks2 or Ibooks Author yet! :) Interesting review Jeff, I think that after all the excitement, we´ll definetily need more time to review the real uses and applications of such applications as well as their contribution to education.

    • Anonymous

      I think you’re right! This has to be one of my biggest tech disappointments to date but I hopeful that it will get better! It has to!

  • http://twitter.com/MayraAixaVillar Mayra Aixa Villar

    Thanks to God I couldn´t download Ibooks2 or Ibooks Author yet! :) Interesting review Jeff, I think that after all the excitement, we´ll definetily need more time to review the real uses and applications of such applications as well as their contribution to education.

  • Lynne

    No disrespect but Apple is looking forward not backward. The iPad is a mobile device more akin to a smart phone than a computer. The iPad 1 is slightly more than 2 years old. Apple’s warranty on mobile devices as well as standard cell phone contracts are for 2 years. It is a great device, just not for this. You now own the book so when you are able to purchase an iPad 2 or later version, you will be able to view the iBook with all of it’s features. You do have a really good point in that a 16GB device will likely be too limiting for most users that want interactive iBooks.

    • Anonymous

      Thank you for your comment. I agree the iPad is a mobile device but then so is a laptop – I believe it falls in its own category. Although the iPad was introduced in January 2010, it was not available until April 2010, thus making it obsolete in less than 2 years!! I am able to purchase a new iPad but would not do so at this time given the iPad 3 is soon to be released. However, even though I own the book, it is no more than a digital version of an existing textbook – no media, etc. Not what I expected. Finally, the requirements should be made clear – just says an iPad. Had I been able to sample the book I would never have paid for the full version. You are right about 2 year contracts, but does that make it right? People used to complain that desktops/laptops have a shelf-life of 3 – 5 years! Now, we are down to 2 years. The cost of these devices are staggering considering the initial purchase and a data plan for 2 years! You right – the 16 GB model will be too limiting — too bad Apple doesn’t make an iPad where you can add storage.

    • Goodson

      That’s not going to cut it for education. Schools don’t buy tech on a two-year schedule. Nowadays it’s more like 6 years. If they expect schools to switch to the consumer upgrade model, it ain’t gonna happen. And why on Earth are these things so huge? It’s just text and some graphics. The boot time is also unacceptable for a Apple device. It’s supposed to “just work.” For them to pull this off it’s going to have to be at least as good as a real book.

  • Lynne

    No disrespect but Apple is looking forward not backward. The iPad is a mobile device more akin to a smart phone than a computer. The iPad 1 is slightly more than 2 years old. Apple’s warranty on mobile devices as well as standard cell phone contracts are for 2 years. It is a great device, just not for this. You now own the book so when you are able to purchase an iPad 2 or later version, you will be able to view the iBook with all of it’s features. You do have a really good point in that a 16GB device will likely be too limiting for most users that want interactive iBooks.

  • Lynne

    I beg to differ, it’s not obsolete. You can still do many, many things with an iPad1 and I know of many teachers with little to no resources that love to have just one to use in their classroom. This technology is in it’s infancy, it will get better overtime. For goodness sake it hasn’t even been out a week! FYI the data plans are controlled by the carriers, so take your grievance up with them. I just thank goodness that someone was finally able to force textbook giants into the 21st century. Of course if you are really that unhappy yo can always buy a Galaxy tablet.

    • Anonymous

      That’s the problem with educators – they are so happy to have inferior equipment. You seem to be taking this a bit personally and I’m not sure why. I have over 30 years experience in educational technology and I own almost every device there is – iPad, Galaxy II, and so on. That’s the only way to compare technology. I’m not sure why you are defending a release that has the flaws I pointed out – there have been many other tech sites that have noticed the exact same problems! My goal in this post was to offer a review that would keep other educators from shelling out $14.99 for something that doesn’t work well on an iPad 1! If I saved teachers some money then it was well worth it!

      • Lynne

        Sorry if I sounded defensive. You are right that for those who have iPad 1′s this solution won’t work – but I take the long view of things, not the short view. I’ve been a teacher for more than 25 years and like you have had nearly every device from Commodore 64, Mac Classic, Palm, PC to Mac to iPad. Almost everyone was somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the sales floor but all played their role in ed tech. Thanks for providing the forum to bring your insights and discoveries to teachers.

        • Anonymous

          You’re welcome! I believe we both want the same things. I really, really wanted this to work! I believe it still will, but it sort of felt like getting coal for Christmas! lol

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WJB6VCRYT34ZCQVZHAA3C7L2LU Meow!

        Educators put up with inferior equipment because we do not have the funding to get better equipment. Convince our Board of Supervisors/County governments/school boards to spend more on updating technology, and we might get somewhere. Until then, teachers will have to continue to purchase on their own or write grants. You’ll also have to convince the powers that be to take risks on the new technologies… I’m frequently prevented from writing grants or sharing information about technology in general, new technology (especially iOS and mobile tech) in particular because there is no “policy” in place and the school doesn’t want to be liable. The grants I have written for technology have not been received with the excitement and joy that other teachers receive for other grants. I don’t have time to convince other teachers to use the technology, so it largely sits in my room being unused because I also don’t have enough for me to do truly tech-based lessons. There is no support for this kind of thing.
        Until this happens, teachers will be happy with inferior, because its better than nothing, and schools will be happy to say, “LOok WHAT WE HAVE!”, never mind that the interactive whiteboard is largely used as a gigantic TV screen.

        • Anonymous

          I agree with most everything you have stated. I have fought these battles as well – sometimes I won and sometimes I lost! But I wonder if “something is better than nothing” doesn’t have more negatives than positives. The excitement of tech in the classroom often turns to disdain when teachers are using 9 year old computers running Windows 2000 on a machine with 512 MB of ram. Just a thought!

  • Kr11048

    I had the same experience with this particular textbook (though I did manage to get the free sample). It was little more than a static copy of a print textbook and it (along with its Algebra 1 cousin) crashed repeatedly. This experience led me to try samples of the Fuse series which has an Algebra 1 & 2 text and a Geometry text that are actual iPad apps with in app purchases. These were much more interactive, but they all crashed constantly. Don’t the developers of these things even fire them up for 5 minutes to make sure they work before foisting them on us?

    • Anonymous

      It was indeed a very disappointing experience – hoping for much better in the future.

  • http://davidwees.com David Wees

    Your complaint about the interactivity offered by the textbook is your strongest point, in my opinion. Textbook publishers do that because it is cheaper than creating new content for the iPad. It is easier to reuse old content. The other points just suggest that the technology isn’t really ready yet.

    What I hope will happen is that more companies will get into the market for textbooks, and that the really interactive and useful ones will flourish. The cost of distribution (essentially nothing) for individuals will make creating textbooks for the iPad quite attractive. Obviously the big textbook companies have a huge head start in this regard, but the pedagogy they are peddling is in serious need of improvement.

    • Anonymous

      I couldn’t agree more! I can’t wait for a truly interactive math textbook. As both you and I know, math lends itself to endless possiblilities for this “new” technology. Thanks!

  • Cupton

    I understand your points, but using a sample size of 1 – what gives?
    Also, first books out of the gate will not be the best.

  • Cupton

    I understand your points, but using a sample size of 1 – what gives?
    Also, first books out of the gate will not be the best.

    • Anonymous

      That was the point of my post – The sample button would not allow me to look at samples!! I would gladly like to test out more books but not at $14.99 a pop. Do you really think I’m going to keep paying $14.99 to see if the rest of the books are better? Especially since the math books, the ones I am most interested in, are by the same publisher. Fool me once …

  • Cupton

    I understand your points, but using a sample size of 1 – what gives?
    Also, first books out of the gate will not be the best.

  • Pingback: Educators’ 10 Complaints against iBooks | Classroom Aid

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