In April this year I had done an article on the various tablet pcs out there, and how all of them are the "first of their kind" and what not.
In that article was the Microsoft Courier tablet, a dual-screen tablet which unfortunately was scratched by Microsoft for reasons beyond my humble comprehension later on. More on why I mention that in a bit.
Now comes the Kno "digital textbook" or "the most powerful tablet anyone has ever made", as defined by Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who has invested recently into the project.
I must say that Kno, a dual-screen tablet is quite similar to Microsoft Tablet which I mentioned above in atleast the form-factor. Beyond that, the demo video shows how elements in the digital textbooks (that would be available in an iTunes-like store for the tablet) can be selected, and drag-dropped on the other screen and used as parts of notes that can be scribbled. Hmm...
"Yes, it’s a digital textbook. Yes, it’s a whole new ecosystem. Two spacious panels. Touch-screen interaction. A fully-stocked store. Video. Note-taking. Sharing and community.
Kno is everything a textbook was. And will be. "
An introduction to the device straight from the makers of Kno themselves.
The basic idea behind Kno is that they'll provide the device hardware, software and services. So they'll have their own store to purchase textbooks, professors' materials, web-based homework systems, everything to be available on the device.
This seems to be taking a different angle to the usage of tablets which we see nowadays. They seem to be carving a niche of their own so as not to be just another tablet and avoid the competition? Heck even on their website, features like "Experience HD video, audio recording and playback, and even more." appear at the very end of the list instead of being highlighted at the top.
This is a tablet directed completely towards the educational purpose and providing educational materials through a proprietary service, which isn't really surprising. Why? Well because the founder of the CEO of the company, Osman Rashid is also the co-founder of Chegg, the textbook renting service which is going places!
I guess time will tell what use of the device people seem to be most comfortable with. Looking forwards to this!
Faizan A. Laghari is a technopreneur with 6+ years of management experience in the business world, and an overall close to a decade of in-the-field experience of the web industry.
