A lot of kids are already using laptops as textbook replacements. My kids' school phases them in during the 9th grade. I actually spent some time a couple years ago working on open-source textbooks in anticipation of this trend. Perhaps as this becomes more of a reality, we'll see more movement towards open-source textbooks. Then the price of the book will simply depend on the price of the e-book viewing device.

Assuming reading devices will improve, do you see collaborative, open source textbooks becoming the norm, or will today's big publishers remain competitive?

In my dream scenario, the big publishers will embrace open source. They will become service companies, doing contract work to customize texts for particular markets.

I imagine what will really happen is that publishers will fight this tooth and nail, like Microsoft is doing with Linux. It will be an all-or-nothing battle, with one side winning and the other losing.