WhisperCast Makes Life Easier for Schools and Business

The aspect of having a physical textbook in grade school has begun to decline over the past few years with the implementation of ebook technology. This decline has increased exponentially with the growing market for tablet PCs, which are now being allowed in schools. WhisperCast, which is an application developed for Kindle by Amazon, now is being used in schools and businesses to purchase and distribute books and documents to all subscribed students or employees.

In the educational market, schools are now able to afford newer versions of textbooks and are able to distribute them to students easier without the risk of losing or damaging them during their use. Some schools may be reluctant to purchase new physical copies of books due to their high cost, but with ebooks the production costs are now considerably lower, thus allowing newer versions to be purchased more frequently and at less of a cost to the consumer. The stress of having to carry around heavy books will soon be eliminated and replaced with only having to carry a tablet PC. Schools can also run classroom networks where students can interact with one another over a Wi-Fi allowing a new type of learning experience. The program also allows teachers to manage their student's Kindles from a centralized system. It keeps students from misusing their Kindles and keeps them on task. The program also includes features that allow teachers to organize the Kindles into groups based on the students' grade level and allows them to distribute the assignments and classroom materials as a group or to select Kindles. Not only is the Whispercast program great for educational purposes, the Kindles provide 'classic' books that can be read and used by students and teachers free of charge.

Not only is Whispercast ideal for a classroom setting, it offers many benefits for business who utilize Kindles as well. Because the program allows for a centralized management system that can manage different groups of Kindles, it is an ideal tool for a company to give to their employees to keep everyone up to speed on what's going on in the business. The program allows businesses to replace textbooks with presentations and it is useful in the distribution of Portable Document Formats and other documents to employees and consumers as well. Security features have been incorporated into the program allowing managers and users to control device settings including Wi-Fi settings and password protection, which helps keep a business's Kindle network secure. Whispercast has also proved to be helpful with non-profit organizations as well. The program has allowed one organization to deliver more than 200,000 e-books to children is Sub-Saharan Africa via the Kindle. Whispercast also supports free Kindle apps in Windows, iOS, OSX, and Android, something that Apple's iPads and iBooks don't do. In fact, as of last January Apple didn't claim to have any real answers to the issue of how to make their own expensive tablets to students. Could this possibly prove to be a competitive advantage for Amazon over Apple? Only time will tell.

Cited:

Mlot, Stephanie. "Amazon Targets Schools, Businesses With Whispercast for Kindle ." www.pcmag.com. N.p., 17 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2012. <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411072,00.asp>.

Carnoy , David . "Amazon's Whispercast for Kindle targets schools, businesses." reviews.cnet.com. N.p., 17 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2012. <http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-57533963-286/amazons-whispercast-for-kindle-targets-schools-businesses/>.