Marvell Introduces $99 Tablet Aimed at Students

Just yesterday I was thinking about what would make a good tablet for students. Started putting down possible specs and laying out requirements. Looks like someone was looking over my shoulder.

Thats awsome. fo 99 bucks! I'd buy one and use it everyday. I've been wanting a decent tablet but i can't afford 800$ as a student. I'd settle for the android version.

Now this is actually a great idea and a great price.. Since this is a book replacement, I wonder how much the e-books (or whatever they use) will be going to go for since the price of this device is almost equivalent to just one book already.

That sounds like a great way to spend 99 bucks.

Geeze, only $99 and it sounds better equipped then an iPad.

This could be a great reference to any technical person on the job; load it up with drawings, diagrams, pointers, current procedures, settings, etc. What's the battery life? Memory expansion? I can definitely see this making my Christmas list, quite possibly at the top.

Most of the expense of textbooks is the writing and producing of them. the cost of manufacturing them is minimal. My current intro to business class book is $150, and the writers likely get $50 of that, with the publisher taking about $70. That actual manufacturing of them is likely only about $10-12, and the remaining $18-20 goes to distribution. That's why most book stores make most of their money from used books. They make almost nothing from new books.

At $99 I'll get at least one, probably 3

What youre missing there is that every time they rewrite that book and put out a new issue those same people get the same amounts for doing less work.


This is similar to an idea I was pitching to a friend of mine here in NC. Instead of a laptop for all students 7-12th grades give them an e-reader and put all their books on it so they dont have to lug a 100lb backpack home every day. The only issue was the e-readers are $300+ and only in black and white (this was a couple of years ago). They would still be cheaper than a laptop and lighter but thats still quite a bit.

The only other issue with this is that the textbook writers will argue that it will cut into their profits (arent the leftists saying to get the profits out of healthcare? will they say the same thing about education next?) unless you charge the same price for the e-book version of the book as the paper copy. That could put a dent in the adoption of this e-textbook concept.


[edit] I also read the article that you linked to Jane and it didnt mention prices. Where did you see the 99 dollar price tag. [/edit]

I think the biggest issue with e-readers and tables are not the devices them selves but how the documents are published. For example a book may have references that may refer to pages at the bottom of the page or the end of the book. Yet most documents done anchors to and from those locations when one refers to the notes. Being able to copy and paste from a document to notes, highlight, mark pages with tabs, etc. is important and that is what e-readers and tablets are not very good at. Yes there is more functionality in a e-reader/tablet but texts primary purpose is for referencing specific places in documents an being able to quickly a refer and access to those locations. I use Adobe professional for work related items and the time involved for sighting, noting, highlighting document take me more time than paper versions. I just hope that they can come up with an intuitive interface and a standard for such tasks across multiple e-reader/tablet document formats and platforms.

Ash

They factor in that they'll sell a lot less books due to the used book market. They bump the price up to compensate for the lack of money they're going to get out of that market. Selling an e-book should be seen as a win if they can drop the price to 20% less than what a used physical book is going for (and make it impossible to resell the e-book).

With tech like this coming out at such a low price point it's only a matter of time till we can finally hit the paperless society!

"full 1080p HD playback" Awesome. Keep us updated when this is released please! =D

I'd buy one if it's $99. Geez maybe two.

and sadly the same reason none of them will likely ever take off, the publishers just don't want it to happen, people would expect significantly lower prices than a physical book, when the extra price to make it a physical book is minimal

If it really is only $99, then I'll definitely buy one of these. The fact that it can play 1080p video is worth the price alone.

Now that looks like a good idea.

As long as students don't get text books written by Texas politicians.

If this thing can run Ubuntu then I would get it.

ZOMG +1000 for marvell. I dont care if this product ends up sucking a*s the concept is pure genius (not like they were the first to think it up or anything but to take action accounts for +999). Buying text box suck but i'll be curious to find out if the prices lower or stay the same on virtual text books.

Something tells me it really isn't a $ 100.00, you probably have to subscribe to a wireless plan for 2 years or something like that for them to make money.

God: "Please, please let this become reality. My shoulders and back hurt from my ridiculously heavy textbooks. Amen."

Holy WOW that is awesome! Only $99? Running Android? I'll be buying a few of these if both of those remain true and the product is good!

Sweet- I would maybe actually pay $99 for something like that. It sounds better to me than the iPad and its like 1/5th the price!

Umm.. no. Royalties for academic textbooks like these is probably closer to a $5 per book. Trust me, I cash royalty cheques for my partner who co-wrote one. Book publishers are like video game publishers.. they hold the balance of power and make the balance of the money.

However, the true cost in creating a book is the cost of producing the book (i.e. to pay the salaries of the editors and other staff) and this cost entirely depends on the book since academic books like these are peer-reviewed by other academics who get about $100-$200 per review... Each book is reviewed by 3-6 peers so that too is a minimal cost. Manufacturing and transporting is also a cost, but minimal. I repeat.. publishers make the balance of the money - they are like any other corporation.

I simply do not believe that they will sell it for $99! With the price of some textbooks close to $150, this product will fly of the shelfs even for $200. Hell, I am not a student, but I do read books, and I would buy that as well!
Mark my words - it is too good to be true.

I don't know what i would use this for but yeah for 99 dollars i would buy it in a heartbeat

if it can run programs like powerpoint and word i'd be willing to pay way more 99

They'll likely want to charge the same for the books, and they'll know they'll get more profit, but they'll whine anyway. (Just like the music producers.) They'll whine all the way to the bank.

oops, wrong quote.

I agree with a number of people here who have stated that, as far as textbooks go, it is more of a publisher/intellectual rights issue than a technology issue. Digitized media, music, movies, books, games, whatever, will all go through the same kind of growing pains which could take years. The music industry is years ahead of others simply by virtue of market pressure created by napster and the like.

Once a couple of industrious college kids devise a scheme for pirating and distributing textbooks via a device like this (not that I advocate it, it's just inevitable) then you will see publishers getting dragged to the negotiating table for a similar adoption of digital textbooks.

What would be interesting is if a person could choose to download only specific chapters of a textbook as apposed to the whole thing, just like downloading specific songs as opposed to the whole album. This might provide some relief in costs for the student. They could download content as the class progressed to help spread out the cost, and then avoid the cost of purchasing sections of the book that are never used for the class.

I've got 99 problems but an iPad ain't one...