Will Apple’s iPad kill the textbook? How the iPad is Normalizing Digital Textbooks Many educators are pointing to Apple Computer’s recently announced iPad as the prototype for an e-reader that will be able to hold all the textbooks a student needs. Its color touch-screen, interactive-video capability and virtual keyboard, they say, give it greater potential for textbook users than monochrome readers like Amazon’s Kindle. The Growing Competition in the Tablet Industry Apple has been quiet about its designs on the textbook business since unveiling its new device, which will go on sale this month. Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard and Dell have also announced portable tablet computers, and Microsoft is rumored to be developing a two-screen model. The Future of Digital Textbooks in U.S. Education While some students may be using notebooks or their more portable cousins, netbooks, to read textbooks, some experts predict that within the next 10 years, most U.S.…