Kno Price Educational Tablet: $599 For Single Screen, $899 For Two

Educational tablet manufacturer Kno has priced its single- and dual-screen eponymous tablets, and confirmed that there will be limited availability of each by the end of 2010. The 14.1-inch single-screen Kno is priced at $599, while the dual-screen Kno – which has a pair of 14.1-inch touchscreens – is $899.

That may sound expensive, but Kno has done the math and reckons students will actually save considerably by opting for digital textbooks rather than traditional versions. In fact, the company claims Kno pays for itself after three semesters, and in fact saves around $1,300 in digital textbook costs.

The Kno ebook store will be available to browse at kno.com/store/books later today, while pre-orders – targeted at an unnamed 10 college campuses in the US – will also be taken from today. Deliveries, however, won't be until the end of the year.

[via AllThingsD]

Press Release:

Kno Announces Pricing and Pre-Order Availability for Tablet Textbook; Pays for Itself in 3 Semesters

Delivers Significant Student Impact for Less than 1% the Cost of a 4-Year College Education

Santa Clara, CA–November 9, 2010–Kno, Inc., a powerful, groundbreaking tablet textbook designed specifically for students and the education market, today revealed the price of its 14.1 inch single and dual-screen tablets at $599 and $899, respectively. The company also announced that it is now accepting a limited number of pre-orders for an initial shipment that is expected to be on customers' doorsteps by the end of the year.

"Kno's extraordinary benefits represent only a tiny fraction of the overall cost of college, but its impact on the student's career–and the energy it adds to the experience, the thrill of learning, and the ultimate grade–is dramatic," said Osman Rashid, Co-Founder and CEO of Kno, Inc. "Even better, when you do the math, it actually pays for itself and still saves $1,300 in digital textbook costs."

Kno has been beta-testing the product with students and the response has been overwhelmingly positive for both the single and dual screen devices. Far more than just a digital textbook, Kno is creating a powerfully effective new learning environment that will make students at all levels more successful at processing, grasping and retaining both facts and concepts.

"My experience with Kno has been really incredible. My books have become more interactive and the ability to hand-write electronic notes on the book pages themselves has changed how I retain information," said Melissa Lin, a sophomore majoring in Biology at UC Berkeley that has been beta-testing the Kno tablet. "I see a ton of difference with the Kno. I can carry everything with me including my books, my notebooks and a browser for research. And, with the lower cost of digital textbooks, it will pay for itself in three semesters which is really great."

Digital textbooks, which typically cost between 30 and 50 percent less than physical textbooks, will be priced separately and will be sold through the Kno bookstore, which will be accessible on every Kno device. Starting today, students will be able to browse Kno's bookstore at www.kno.com/store/books, which will include tens of thousands of the most popular textbooks and supplement materials. Kno has previously announced that it is working with major textbook publishers including Cengage, McGraw Hill and Pearson. The company recently added publishers including Macmillan, Bedford, Freeman & Worth and Holtzbrinck as well as BarCharts Publishing, Kaplan, Random House and a large number of the University Presses.

"According to the not-for-profit College Board's 2010 report, the average college student spends approximately $1,100 a year on book and supplies," said Babur Habib, CTO and Co-Founder of Kno, Inc. "Kno can reduce that cost while bringing education into the 21st Century, providing students with a far superior learning experience than they have today."

To learn more about Kno, please visit the Kno blog at http://blog.kno.com or visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/GoodtoKNO, Twitter www.twitter.com/GoodtoKNO and YouTube www.youtube.com/GoodtoKNO.