I got an invite to attend the press launch of Vibe Tablet and its accompanying Vibe E-Bookstore (vibebookstore.com) at the Philippine Normal University (Taft) this afternoon.

You can watch the Vibe Tablet, Reader and EBookStore promotional video here shown during the conference.

Consider it as our local version of Apple’s iBookStore and Amazon’s Kindle Bookstore. Apple has the iPad, Amazon has Kindle, Barnes and Noble has the Nook and Vibe Bookstore has the Vibe Tablet.

And like Apple and Amazon, Vibe’s books are not limited to its tablet — because Vibe is also an app for tablets and smartphones of various platforms, much like Kindle. :)

But the similarity ends there. For Philippine education, Vibe isn’t just an app or a tablet — it is the new frontier of education — the so-called “brave new world”, if you will.

Vibe aims to revolutionize classroom learning as we know it and Vibe is probably just one of many other ideas to come.

But what is Vibe exactly and how does it differ from other tablets out there?

“Vibe is the first Philippine electronic bookstore. With Vibe, Filipinos will be able to access and buy all kinds of reading material through their smartphones and computing devices. Vibe is also the name of a reading application (app) that can be downloaded for free and installed on PCs, Mac computers, Android devices, iPhone and iPads.”

Please refer to below press release for more info on the conference.

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PRESS RELEASE

PNU Holds Digital Education Conference for Teachers

May 7, 2012, Manila, Philippines -The Philippine Normal University (PNU), the country’s National Center for Teacher Education, conducted a conference today billed as Teaching Powered by Technology: 21st Century Skills and Tools for Teachers at the AV Theater of Edilberto P. Dagot Hall, PNU campus in Taft Avenue, Manila. This event is in collaboration with Vibe Technologies, the technology arm of Vibal Publishing House, Inc.

The event is also in support of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) thrust towards the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in education. DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro has issued DepEd Advisory No. 212 s. 2012, calling for the participation of school administrators, supervisors, principals, school heads, coordinators and classroom teachers from both public and private schools all over the country.

Among the speakers in the conference are Dr. Erico Habijan (Director, National Educators Academy of the Philippines), Hal Plotkin (Senior Policy Advisor, US Department of Education), Michelle Casio (Education Lead, Microsoft Philippines), Fr. Johnny Go, S.J (President, Xavier School) and Michael Xia (Regional Sales and Marketing Manager, McGraw Hill).

Highlights of the event include the launch of Vibe Tablet, the first Philippine tablet specifically meant for school use, and the formal donation and turnover of the open courseware repository of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to the PNU for the use of their teachers and students. MIT is recognized as a leading engineering and technology university globally.

In further collaboration, Vibal Publishing House, Inc. is donating a “classroom of the future” concept which will serve as the of icial home of the continuing year-long course with degree units at PNU. The facility will be equipped with mobile PC tablets, an interactive whiteboard and LCD projector. The project is also in line with PNU’s objective to enter into a twinning agreement with Columbia University s Center for Technology and School Change, which has a reputable international technology curriculum. #