MARKRTING PLAN
Introduction:
Tablet PCs, iPads and eReaders are innovative technologies but remain expensive to most
developing countries and are at very early stages with regard to their use in education in developing
countries. With the creation of the iPhone a new chain of devices were born which are touch
screen, multi-media friendly, web-friendly and relatively intuitive to use. They presume
connectivity in order to upload content and connect to the internet to access the explosion of
interactive, location specific and customer-centric software applications. These devices are
currently tested and being developed in developed countries and, although they are being looked
at in education, they were not developed as educational devices. Current experiments of using
tablets PCs, eReaders and iPads in education are largely confined to developed countries due to
cost and connectivity.
The issue of the use of tablet PCs, iPads and eReaders in education was looked at recently on the
Educational Technology Debate site where there are a number of articles on the topic.
1-1 Opportunities:
The touch-interface combined with long battery life provides an intuitive experience for
learning.
They are light, portable, and easy to hold or lay flat and pass around.
There are a growing number of free and low cost apps for tablets.
The portability of large volumes of content, and therefore opportunity to distribute a large
volume of offline content to remote places is an advantage of e-readers. These can also use
the mobile phone Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network to access
content.
Electronic texts and multimedia content tend to be less expensive to purchase than printed
versions or hard copy versions of multi-media content (for example, CD or DVD packs).
Some e-readers have additional functionality that can offer benefits, such as built-in
dictionaries, access to Wikipedia, and text-to-speech which can help, for instance, new
readers or the visually impaired.
, WorldReader.org, which is testing the use of e-Readers in schools in Ghana, argues that Digital
books have three principal advantages over physical books. First, once e-readers are in place,
schools and families have near-immediate access to hundreds of thousands of books, from new
textbooks to current best-sellers like Twilight. Second, the cost of shipping these books is nearly
zero, even to very remote areas, compared to $1.00 or more per book just to ship a container to
port. And finally, the cost of digital content is falling quickly: many current and classic digital
books are priced at one-half or less of the hardcover list price, and many others are free”.
There are also organizations such as WorldReader.org and libraries which are exploring models
for shared use of e-readers which have the potential to extend reach at reduced cost.
WorldReader.org has also put in place mechanisms to allow students to take eReaders home in
order to enable them to both do further reading and prepare more effectively for class.
1-2 Challenges:
In addition to the challenges outlined in the section 5.1, challenges for the use of tablet PCs,
eReaders and iPads include:
Cost is a key barrier. Even though the cost of the devices is declining quickly, they remain
expensive. E-Readers, the cheapest of these devices, currently cost half of what they cost
about 18 months ago but even at a cost of less than $200 they are too high for many to
afford. Importantly the cost of the device is also only a fraction of the total cost
Their ruggedness to survive in dusty, tropical environments.
They are intrinsically designed to be dynamic tools which function, interact and update
content through the internet – low levels of connectivity, slow bandwidth and costs of
access are barriers. With these constraints, offline innovation and interactivity needs to be
developed.
Connecting with various social networks are part of the tablet PC and iPad experience that
make them exciting for users. These networks and their content need to be relevant to users
in developing countries.
Digitizing content, developing new digital content and distributing this content to users is
a challenge (e.g. in terms of costs, capacity, connectivity, establishing new policies and
regulatory practices). Locally relevant content needs to be available at affordable prices.
Digitizing local content in different languages is likely to be a major challenge in
developing countries.
There are also pilots involving shared use of iPads but there have been challenges with this
approach since iPads are not designed to be shared and, as one pilot reported, the way they work
‘has made it virtually impossible to use many apps and web services’ if shared.
Introduction:
Tablet PCs, iPads and eReaders are innovative technologies but remain expensive to most
developing countries and are at very early stages with regard to their use in education in developing
countries. With the creation of the iPhone a new chain of devices were born which are touch
screen, multi-media friendly, web-friendly and relatively intuitive to use. They presume
connectivity in order to upload content and connect to the internet to access the explosion of
interactive, location specific and customer-centric software applications. These devices are
currently tested and being developed in developed countries and, although they are being looked
at in education, they were not developed as educational devices. Current experiments of using
tablets PCs, eReaders and iPads in education are largely confined to developed countries due to
cost and connectivity.
The issue of the use of tablet PCs, iPads and eReaders in education was looked at recently on the
Educational Technology Debate site where there are a number of articles on the topic.
1-1 Opportunities:
The touch-interface combined with long battery life provides an intuitive experience for
learning.
They are light, portable, and easy to hold or lay flat and pass around.
There are a growing number of free and low cost apps for tablets.
The portability of large volumes of content, and therefore opportunity to distribute a large
volume of offline content to remote places is an advantage of e-readers. These can also use
the mobile phone Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network to access
content.
Electronic texts and multimedia content tend to be less expensive to purchase than printed
versions or hard copy versions of multi-media content (for example, CD or DVD packs).
Some e-readers have additional functionality that can offer benefits, such as built-in
dictionaries, access to Wikipedia, and text-to-speech which can help, for instance, new
readers or the visually impaired.
, WorldReader.org, which is testing the use of e-Readers in schools in Ghana, argues that Digital
books have three principal advantages over physical books. First, once e-readers are in place,
schools and families have near-immediate access to hundreds of thousands of books, from new
textbooks to current best-sellers like Twilight. Second, the cost of shipping these books is nearly
zero, even to very remote areas, compared to $1.00 or more per book just to ship a container to
port. And finally, the cost of digital content is falling quickly: many current and classic digital
books are priced at one-half or less of the hardcover list price, and many others are free”.
There are also organizations such as WorldReader.org and libraries which are exploring models
for shared use of e-readers which have the potential to extend reach at reduced cost.
WorldReader.org has also put in place mechanisms to allow students to take eReaders home in
order to enable them to both do further reading and prepare more effectively for class.
1-2 Challenges:
In addition to the challenges outlined in the section 5.1, challenges for the use of tablet PCs,
eReaders and iPads include:
Cost is a key barrier. Even though the cost of the devices is declining quickly, they remain
expensive. E-Readers, the cheapest of these devices, currently cost half of what they cost
about 18 months ago but even at a cost of less than $200 they are too high for many to
afford. Importantly the cost of the device is also only a fraction of the total cost
Their ruggedness to survive in dusty, tropical environments.
They are intrinsically designed to be dynamic tools which function, interact and update
content through the internet – low levels of connectivity, slow bandwidth and costs of
access are barriers. With these constraints, offline innovation and interactivity needs to be
developed.
Connecting with various social networks are part of the tablet PC and iPad experience that
make them exciting for users. These networks and their content need to be relevant to users
in developing countries.
Digitizing content, developing new digital content and distributing this content to users is
a challenge (e.g. in terms of costs, capacity, connectivity, establishing new policies and
regulatory practices). Locally relevant content needs to be available at affordable prices.
Digitizing local content in different languages is likely to be a major challenge in
developing countries.
There are also pilots involving shared use of iPads but there have been challenges with this
approach since iPads are not designed to be shared and, as one pilot reported, the way they work
‘has made it virtually impossible to use many apps and web services’ if shared.
