Educational software developer Kno, which has focused on producing interactive digital textbooks for the iPad, is extending its textbook app to the Android and Windows 7 operating systems. Kno is also teaming with electronics manufacturer Samsung to deliver the Kno digital textbook app preloaded on the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, a 10.1-inch screen tablet device running on Android 4.0 that features handwriting recognition.
The Kno digital textbook app provides access to thousands of college and now K-12 textbooks. Kno textbooks offer more than 70 interactive features--such as 3D models, handwritten notes and easy highlighting and digial flash cardds--and the company is adding a social sharing feature that will allow faculty as well as students to easily circulate notes and highlights as well as links, videos, drawings and pictures to other students.
The deal to preload the Kno digital textbook app on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 was announced today at a joint Kno/Samsung event in Manhattan.
Kno specializes in licensing textbooks from the major educational publishers and adding a rich selection of interactive and multimedia functionality to them while maintaining the look and original page numbering of the print volume. The company has focused on higher education but recently expanded its business into the K-12 market with a deal to license elementary and secondary education textbooks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Babur Habib, Kno co-founder and chief technology officer, said the deal with Samsung and the addition of support for the Android and Windows 7 operating systems, “extends our reach to nearly 100% of students no matter what device they choose for school this fall.” He emphasized that, “Our mission is to go beyond a flat digital book and let the book become the basis of an interactive and now a shared experience. The ability to share study notes is one of the most significant innovations added to the Kno app since its initial launch.”
