Rather disappointingly, Michael Hiltzik is associating Apple’s foray into educational publishing with the larger question of the potential impact of new technologies on the quality of instruction. Hiltzik is right to think that Apple’s new business initiative is pretty unimpressive and that the hype surrounding it is tiresome and self-serving. But the reason so many people are enthusiastic about emerging educational technologies is that they have the potential to broaden access to certain services that are now consumed by a relatively small number of students, most of them relatively affluent. That is, a number of new technologies, like distance tutoring, language learning software programs, etc., can effectively compete against non-consumption. Students who don’t currently have access to a really great Mandarin teacher can now use Rosetta Stone. It should go without saying that Rosetta Stone isn’t necessarily as good as having a really great Mandarin teacher — but really great Mandarin teachers are rare and expensive while copies of Rosetta Stone cost a relatively trivial amount. Moreover, Rosetta Stone is getting better and cheaper faster than human alternatives. That is the really big deal in educational technology, per Christensen, Johnson, and Horn and Chubb and Moe, and there’s no sense in being churlish about it. Writing a column about educational technology without at least reckoning with its potential for reducing the cost of high-quality instruction is a mistake. Perhaps this potential is illusory — but one has to actually make that case.