Pearson Plus is a subscription service for digital textbooks. It's the largest US publisher of college textbooks. The Pearson Plus app will be available in mobile and desktop formats on US college campuses starting this fall. It is expected to expand globally in the future.There are two subscription levels. Students can access one textbook per month at $9.99 or $14.99 per monthly for full access to the company's entire library (which includes over 1,500 ebooks). Other study tools include flashcards and annotations.This fall, the Pearson Plus app will be accessible on US college campusesCollege textbooks can be a significant expense and can cost students hundreds of dollars per semester. This service is being promoted by Pearson as a way to save money. Bird estimates that a digital textbook costs anywhere from $40 to $50, and can cost students more than a few hundred dollars. Students who use multiple Pearson textbooks per semester could save money by buying eight months of the more costly subscription tier.However, there are some caveats. You can save money by purchasing used textbooks. Students can also resell both the benefits and savings that are not available via a digital model. Subscription platforms can raise their prices as well, as we've seen Netflix, Disney Plus, Spotify, and Philo do over the past year as their user base grew.The students will have to calculate their course load, but it is clear that Pearson Plus subscriptions are worth more for each Pearson textbook that a student is assigned. The new model could save students money, but it is easy to see that it could also put pressure on departments and professors to buy more Pearson books.We are moving from transactional to relationshipThis may explain why Pearson seems to be focusing on a loyal, long-term user base and not a large one. Bird states that rather than renting or purchasing, which is more transaction-focused. They are moving from transactional to relationship. We gain insights into their behavior over time and they can use more functionality within the app, which will help us both to a long career.Pearson is not the only publisher to test a product like that. Other publishers have also tried it. Cengage Unlimited is a similar platform and costs $69.99 for four-months. The service was sued by authors who claimed that it altered their compensation and adversely affected their royalties. Bird claims that Pearson had already worked out this. He says that the discussion about royalties and compensation was part of the development of the app.
