Kno Single-Screen Textbook Tablet Targets Students

Kno Inc. has introduced a single-screen tablet textbook to complement the dual-screen version the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company introduced in June.

Kno's tablets are targeted toward students and their touchscreens can display a complete textbook without scrolling. The dual-screen model opens flat like a book or folds back on itself. A pen stylus allows note taking right onto the page, which differentiates it from other e-readers available today, according to the company. The Kno also includes storage space for eight school terms worth of textbooks, notes, documents and media.

Kno, founded in May 2009, announced the single-screen version at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francicsco.

"Kno fundamentally improves the way students learn," said Osman Rashid, CEO and co-founder of Kno in a statement. "We are driven to innovate in a category that has been static for too long. Even though the Kno pays for itself in 13 months, the smaller up-front investment of the single screen version will allow more students to use our learning platform."

The single and two-screen models will be available by the end of 2010. Pricing and availability have not been finalized, according to Know.

"From day one, we designed the Kno with flexibility in mind," said Babur Habib, CTO and co-founder of Kno, in a statement. "We developed the product to have multiple configurations and meet different student needs. The single screen maintains the elegance of our fluid, intuitive interface while capturing the richness and ’page fidelity’ of the original textbook."

The company plans to ship both the single and two-screen tablet textbooks to consumers by the end of 2010. Pricing and pre-order announcements will be made in the coming months.