Apple is in talks with the McGraw-Hill Companies and Hachette Book Group to include educational and trade titles on its planned tablet computer, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
McGraw-Hill Education, the third largest educational publisher in the U.S. by sales, is discussing getting electronic textbooks and parts of its online learning system onto the tablet, say two people. Apple has also held talks with trade book publisher Hachette Book Group about distributing e-books on the tablet, says one person involved in the discussions.
Apple’s tablet, due to be introduced Jan. 27, is likely to feature content from a wide range of book, magazine, and newspaper publishers, as well as entertainment. “Everyone is expecting e-book capabilities and services,” says Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. “This generation of tablets is all about the consumer and media consumption.” As it has pushed deeper into consumer electronics, Apple’s strategy is to combine cutting-edge hardware design with access to music, video, games, and other applications.
The company’s interest in educational content underscores the longstanding popularity of Apple products among schools and institutions of higher learning.
Publisher John Wiley & Sons also has talked with Apple about including Wiley content on Apple devices, says Peter Balis, director of digital content sales at Wiley. “We have had ongoing conversations with Apple about their interest in including educational content,” Balis says. “We will continue to support their efforts in whatever iteration it takes next week.” He declined to comment specifically on the tablet.
Talks Cover Marketing, Software
Apple’s talks with McGraw-Hill cover how the two companies can market textbooks for the tablet and ways their software development teams can collaborate to publish digital textbooks and educational content on Apple’s latest device, two people say. “The talks are as much about marketing as they are about software development,” says one of…