But, today, Apple unveiled a FABULOUS new initiative aimed at electronic textbook creation, delivery, distribution, use and pricing. Consider that many of the textbooks that will be offered in the new iBooks store will be under $15 (at least as presented today), students will be the beneficiaries of an array of interactive textbooks for a fraction of the cost of printed textbooks.

All of these books will be viewable on Apple’s iPad, of course.

Add to that the ability of teachers (or anyone for that matter) to create and deliver their own interactive books (textbooks or otherwise) and you have the beginnings of a major shift in education and learning. 

If you are an administrator, teacher or student wanting to catch a glimpse of the future of education, be sure to watch this introduction video. AMAZING stuff! Just a note: If you are on Windows, you’ll need to have Quicktime 7 to watch the video.

After months of speculation about the introduction of Apple’s “tablet,” the iPad

After subsequent variations and “tweaks,” Apple continued to innovate and now the App Store is one of the MOST differentiating components of the iPhone’s success.

So, what will this mean for the iPad?

I believe that the successful iPhone apps developers will REALLY embrace this new BIG-SCREEN tool and that textbook publishing, regular book reading, medical integration, newspaper publishing, rich media integration and applications that we haven’t yet imagined will cause the iPad to be another re-defining tool in  the next few years.

And don’t forget the millions of grandparents out there who are just frightened away by the “traditional” computer but who would love to stay connected with distant grandkids and adult kids and who would find the iPad non-threatening, easy and just plain fun!

Since the iPad hasn’t even been released yet, don’t count it out now. One final “arrow” that Apple has in its quiver is an international presence in over 250 Apple stores that currently have the highest per-square-foot profit of any retail outlet on the planet. Who knows what will happen when they are all able to expose this new concept IN PERSON to millions of Apple shoppers?

Hide and watch!

These presentations use Apple’s Keynote presentation software (makes PowerPoint presentations look lame by comparison). In any event, within a week or so of getting the Air, I noticed that it wasn’t charging correctly. So, I called and the Apple rep advised me to take it to my local authorized Apple service center. So I did. Here’s where it gets interesting.

They replaced the MagSafe power connector and off I went. Well, that only worked for a couple of days before the same problem occurred. Back in. They then replaced the logic board. Same scenario. Worked for a few days then not charging. So, I decided to call Apple again.

After a very circuitous analysis involving several levels of tech support and customer support, they decided that the best thing to do to get me back up and running quickly was to simply replace it. While I had purchased a refurbished Air with the SSD drive (Solid-State-Drive), those were no longer available in the configuration that I had. The only replacement available was the top-of-the-line Air.

So, they initiated a cross-ship where they sent a replacement charged to my credit card BUT when they get the defective Air back, they credit me back the entire amount. They even set me up with a PRE-PAID FedEx label. Within 3 days, I had the new Air in my possession which gave me time to get ready for another presentation that was only days away.

Now, THAT is the reason that Apple continues to be rated so highly in ANY industry for customer service and just one of MANY reasons why they continue to have such loyal customers…for life!

If you have been considering a move to a Mac, don’t wait! I’m not an Apple employee. Just raving fan!