textbooks, viewed from the back of the envelope

[Joe Corneli]

Regarding this article, about uses of data in education:
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/539091/lessons-from-the-digital-classroom/

I wrote:

...

I think that the hype isn't really about the science aspects, but
about the investment frenzy. It makes me rather sad that stuff I'd
like to see given away as a public good is being sold at a hefty
price. But surely with time the price will come down, and the quality
will go up.

The question is: when? Speaking of big data, I suppose we can just
follow the money. To compare the numbers cited in the article:

"This year U.S. elementary, middle, and high schools are expected to
spend $4.7 billion on information technology... with $2.4 billion
invested in education startups in 2014. "

Compare that to $1.79 billion of revenues at Red Hat, or $14 billion
as the total size of the U.S. textbook industry. It would appear to
me that a big slice of that $14 billion could fall out of bottom of
the market, leaving a chunk around, say, $1.4 billion for a Red
Hat-like company that offered something "better" (and vastly cheaper)
than today's textbooks.

--
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I am located somewhere on Earth, but as far as responding to email is
concerned, I appear to be well outside the solar system."