Kindle MatchBook EdTech Lessons?

By Joshua Kim. Should higher ed even try to keep up with Amazon?
The question is actually much broader and potentially more profound.  
Should higher ed run at consumer business speeds?  
Are we in a fundamentally different service business as the Amazon's of the world?  
Are attempts to draw lessons from an Amazon (or a Google or shoot me now a Facebook) inherently flawed, misleading, and potentially damaging?
Are the contexts, mission, and businesses just so radically different between Amazon and higher ed that any attempt to draw lessons from the former will be unproductive at best?
Amazon's new Kindle MatchBook programthrows these questions into sharp relief. What MatchBook attempts to do (once all the publishers are on board) is to allow print book owners the option of buying an inexpensive e-book version of the same title. Read more...