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As digital and mobile technologies assume a growing role in classrooms around the country, the stalwart textbook has remained largely analog. But this past January, Apple turned heads when it expanded its iPad bookseller, iBookstore, to include textbooks in partnership with the three largest K-12 publishers, who, together, are responsible for around 90 percent of textbook sales in the market.

The Apple iPad as an E-Book Reader Consumer Reports did not include the Apple iPad in its e-reader Ratings because it is a computer with e-book capabilities, not a dedicated e-book reader.  The iPad’s iBook app, one of at least three available for the device, offers fast page turns, with a dazzling virtual image one page curling back to reveal another, and the full-color screen is more eye-catching than the monochrome displays on the e-book readers.  Type  on  its LCD touch screen is fine, though it is slightly less crisp than that of the best e-book readers.  Compared to the most expensive e-book reader tested, Amazon’s Kindle DX, $490, Apple’s iPad is more expensive costing $500 and up and substantially heavier at 24 ounces versus the Kindle DX’s weight of 19 ounces.  Consumer Reports recommends buying the iPad for e-books only if consumers are willing to compromise to get a multifunction device.