Kno announces single-screen tablet textbook, plans to ship alongside dual-screen by end of 2010
Looks like Kno, whose dual-screen tablet textbook turned heads at D8 this year, is taking a cue from King Solomon himself. The company has announced a single-screen tablet textbook -- apparently the "world's first," if you don't consider the plethora of other tablets as educational in any way. Both devices are apparently on track for a late 2010 release, thanks in no small part, we suspect, to new funding. From the press pics, it really looks to be just one-half the original product: a single 14.1-inch capacitive IPS display with presumably 1440 x 900 resolution.
Kno's taken some pride in its two-screen design, so why introduce a more standard form factor? Looks like price might be the big motivator; it's something CEO Osman Rashid seems to at least tacitly acknowledge: "Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform." That said, we still don't know the price of either product. Last we heard, the double-display model would be priced at "under $1,000," but there's no indication as to how far under that might be. We'll keep investigating; in the meantime, don't throw away your army of highlighters just yet. Press release after the break.
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Kno Breaks New Ground with the World's First Single Screen Tablet Textbook
Kno Continues the Pace of Innovation in Integrated Learning with a Smaller
Version of the Kno
TechCrunch Disrupt Conference -- San Francisco, CA – September 27, 2010 –Kno, Inc., the groundbreaking tablet textbook and dynamic learning platform, today announced its further commitment to the education market with a single screen version of its tablet textbook. The single screen version extends the breakthroughs and functionality of the dual screen version announced in June.
"Kno fundamentally improves the way students learn," said Osman Rashid, the CEO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. "We are driven to innovate in a category that has been static for too long. Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform."
Kno, short for knowledge, is a transformative learning platform that blends a touch-screen tablet, digital textbooks, course materials, note-taking, web access, educational applications, digital media, sharing and more into a powerful and engaging educational experience that is not available on any other tablet or eReader today.
"From day one, we designed the Kno with flexibility in mind," said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. "We developed the product to have multiple configurations and meet different student needs. The single screen maintains the elegance of our fluid, intuitive interface while capturing the richness and 'page fidelity' of the original textbook."
The company plans to ship both the single and two-screen tablet textbooks to consumers by the end of 2010. Pricing and pre-order announcements will be made in the coming months.
About Kno, Inc.
Kno, Inc. fundamentally improves the way students learn, by offering new ways to digitally consume, organize, create and share knowledge. Kno offers both two-panel and single panel tablet textbooks that artfully blend the intuitive experience of the conventional textbook with a rich digital world of video, note-taking, sharing and more. Its open platform encourages publishers and developers to create and distribute innovative education applications and content. Kno, Inc. was founded in May 2009 by Osman Rashid, co-founder of Chegg and Babur Habib, a consumer electronics veteran. Kno has a world-class management team from Apple, Cisco, HP, Intel, TiVo, Chegg and Palm. The company has received funding from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Floodgate, Ron Conway, Silicon Valley Bank and TriplePoint Capital and is based in Santa Clara, California. For more information please visit www.kno.com and follow Kno at: http://twitter.com/GoodtoKNO.
