
McGraw-Hill axed from iPad launch after CEO leaks on TV - transburgh
http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/27/mcgraw-ipad/
======
tibbon
Not that McGraw-Hill published Harry Potter (because they didn't) but could
have you imagined how much a publisher would have flipped out if Steve Jobs
had leaked the ending of the final Harry Potter books the day before it came
out (had he known the contents)?

When I saw this guy on TV I was thinking, "What the hell is he thinking-
there's no way Apple is sanctioning this"

~~~
patio11
That leak would have sounded like: "Wow, I just got done with the new Harry
Potter book. It is _amazing_ \-- it has, like, magic and stuff, and there are
these three kids, and they keep saving the world. We're so happy to have it on
the iPad -- it is going to sell a whole lot of copies."

i.e. it only matters if you're a legendarily obsessive control freak.

~~~
netcan
Not exactly. It's leaking a secret. "Harry Potter has wizards in it" wasn't a
secret.

~~~
patio11
Right. Mind if I read a few titles from Hacker News the day before the exec
mentioned the Apple Tablet?

Apple Execs Downright Giddy About The Tablet (techcrunch.com)

Industries Apple's Tablet Could Shake Up (popularmechanics.com)

Apple Tablet 'Isn't Going To Cost Anywhere Near $1,000' (businessinsider.com)

Apple Tablet: Bestest, Coolest, Greatest Thing Ever (markevanstech.com)

Apple's tall order may be making tablets viable (sfgate.com)

"Flurry Notices Cupertino-based Users Testing Apps on Apple Tablet"

The only way this secret could have been less secretive was if it had been
passed to the CIA with explicit instructions that under no circumstances was
it to be leaked to the New York Times.

~~~
ErrantX
except none of that was verifiable or insider info; this wasn't speculation,
but hard fact (and something new - the e-book store)

------
jmount
<http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/08/02/>

~~~
barrkel
Indeed, this is the first thing I thought of when I read about McGraw chirping
up:

[http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/00/07/19/apple_turns_co...](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/00/07/19/apple_turns_cold_shoulder_towards_ati_at_macworld.html)

Etc.

------
JunkDNA
"Either way, it’s a concrete lesson in just how far removed the publishing
industry can be from reality"

I'm sorry but this is an example of how far-removed the Silicon Valley echo
chamber can be from reality. When you're dealing with people far removed from
the tech field, they have a very different set of ideas about what is
important.

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noonespecial
That's damn near Seinfeldian. _No pad for you! One Year!_

------
theprodigy
Apple and Mcgraw Hill need each other. Mcgraw needs the distribution platform
and hardware and Apple needs the content. They will forgive and forget what
happened.

------
ecq
<http://www.linkedin.com/companies/macmillanmcgraw-hill>

looks like macmillan and mcgraw-hill are the same companies.

~~~
stephencelis
They're not ;) See below, or,

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1083043>

------
cmelbye
Macmillian is McGraw-Hill, and they're on that slide along with the others.

~~~
stephencelis
<http://www.macmillan.com>

Macmillan is not McGraw-Hill.

~~~
quellhorst
<http://www.mhschool.com/> From the above url, its hard to tell if the
companies are different.

~~~
stephencelis
throw_away mentioned the joint venture, but its easiest to see the difference
if you look at Macmillan's logo (nowhere to be found at mhschool.com), and
maybe more importantly, Macmillan/McGraw-Hill's titles, which are all
educational, and not quite what you'd expect from one of the big 5 advertised
at today's Stevenote.

In fact, the joint venture ended awhile ago. Some context:

    
    
      [In] 1989, McGraw-Hill entered into a 50/50 joint venture
      with Macmillan, combining the elementary, secondary, and 
      vocational education businesses of both companies[...]
    
      [...] In 1993, the company bought out Macmillan's half of
      the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company[...]
    

<http://www.answers.com/topic/the-mcgraw-hill-companies-inc>

