Kids in New York City will be getting some new textbooks next year. But don’t expect the students to be turning over any fresh pages.
On Wednesday, e-commerce giant Amazon won a $30 million contract to deliver e-books to New York City public schools starting next school year, The Wall Street Journal first reported.
The get will help Amazon introduce its e-books to over a million kids in the nation’s largest school district. If the first three years of the new program prove successful, the deal could be extended to a five-year plan, netting Amazon $64.5 million total, while providing the schools with a more durable, easily transportable digital alternative to the traditional dog-eared, yellowing textbook pages.
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The deal does not include any new e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle for the schools. Instead, schools will buy up their own digital files from Amazon, without devices, in a special internal marketplace the company will set up for the New York schools, the Journal reports. Then the books will be opened up on school devices such as tablets, computers, and smartphones.
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As Amazon begins to edge its way into the public school textbook market for kids, it’s also making some new ploys to lure in a slightly older studious crowd: college-age millennials.
The company has been opening up new package pick-up centers at college campuses around the country through its Campus Pick-Up Point program. And just earlier this week the company unveiled a new pay-by-the-month scheme for its Amazon Prime subscriptions. Many are already suggesting the new monthly service could be a simple way to lure more millennials into the Amazon system, without forcing the cash-strapped students to spring on an annual Prime subscription. Time to get shopping, kids.
