National Book Store goes back to school - with new, high-tech supplies

MANILA, Philippines - Gone are the days when you went to school with just a spiral notebook and a pen, or when correcting typos on your report meant having to use liquid correction fluid and blowing on the page to dry it before typing the right words.

These are the days when pens can scan your own handwriting and synchronize your notes with a lecture you’re recording, when high-school students are writing their reports on their own laptops and computing their algebra problems on specialized calculators.

This school year, National Book Store (NBS) goes high-tech with products suited for the tech-savvy student. It is, after all, the complete and most convenient place to shop at the beginning of the school year.

Nanay Socorro Ramos, founder and general manager of National Book Store, says that of all the new school supplies that come out around the world every year, the bookstore relies on its long history with Filipino consumers to know which products they will patronize, and at the same time the store listens to what the market demands.

“You have a gut feel for it,” says Nanay Socorro. “We attend trade fairs in New York, Germany and China to look at what’s new and what’s useful for Filipino students and parents. If you’ve been in this business for so many years like I have, you will know what people want every new school year. Wala sa libro yan, it’s all gut feel and, of course, lakas ng loob to carry these new things.”

For the first time this year, National Book Store is offering laptops and mini notebooks. The bookstore talked with several computer brands and decided to partner with Dell because it suits NBS’s market — Dell laptops are not the cheapest, neither are they the most expensive.

“Dell is a good quality brand,” says Nanay. “We decided to distribute laptops because they’re already part of school and office supplies. Everybody’s got one — or wants one.”

The Dell line of computers made their debut in five NBS branches in April — TriNoma, Shangri-La Plaza, Glorietta 5, Quezon Avenue, and Robinsons Ermita. The prices of the computers and the perks that come with a purchase in NBS are the same as those offered by computer shops, plus when you buy at NBS, you also earn points on your Laking National loyalty card.

Trina Licauco-Alindogan, National Book Store regional manager, says, “It has always been National Book Store’s aim to provide Filipinos with the best school and office supplies and other equipment. With the advent of technology, laptops are now a necessity to every student and professional. Dell laptops are a valuable addition to National Book Store’s line of merchandise.”

In fact, National Book Store is the exclusive distributor of Dell Adamo M13, the brand’s high-end laptop at P139,000. Also offered is the full line of Dell mini notebooks and laptops with prices ranging from P23,000 to P45,000.

The word “adamo” means “to fall in love” in Latin, and the Adamo line will serve as a flagship in a line of products created with new design aesthetics and new technologies. Measuring only .65-inch thick and with a 13.4-inch display, the Adamo M13 is portable, making it a great laptop for students to carry from one class to another.

“Great design needs to be timeless and evoke emotion in people,” says Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell’s consumer products. “While a premium computing experience was assumed for Adamo, the intent was for people to see, touch and explore Adamo and be rewarded by the select materials and craftsmanship you would expect in a fine watch.”

The laptop has a five-hour battery life, which means students and professors can use it in their classes without having to search for electrical sockets after every class. The LED display features a brighter screen and uses less power. It comes with a built-in 1.3MP camera and microphone for those video conferences with classmates.

Whether it’s for school or the office, you’ll enjoy Adamo M13’s backlit and scalloped full-sized keyboard, solid-state drive, and the widescreen high-definition display with edge-to-edge glass. Wireless N, Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband connects you anytime, anywhere. The ultra-slim laptop comes in silver aluminum and pearl finish, and onyx aluminum with brushed finish. Dell laptops come with licensed Windows 7 Home Premium software.

A little more compact than a laptop but no less awesome is the Smartpen Pulse Titanium 2GB. It’s “a computer in a pen that helps you to never miss a word. Pulse records everything you hear, say and write, and links your audio recordings to your notes.”

The Smartpen Pulse comes with the special Livescribe dot paper to write on, which activates all Smartpen applications.

“The times are different,” says Nanay of the pen that comes with its own scanner. “When you write on the paper it remembers what you wrote, so if you’re taping a speech while taking notes, and later have to reconstruct the whole thing, it will synch your notes to the lecture or speech you recorded.”

The paper actually has a lot of little dots that the pen scans so you can find the most important information from your meetings or lectures by just tapping on what you wrote. The Smartpen comes with a 2GB memory and can hold over 200 hours of audio. 

At P9,999.75, the Smartpen Pulse can save notes to your computer and even search for words within your notes. You can also share your notes and recordings online or privately through the Livescribe Community (it has 500MB of online storage) or Facebook. You can export your notes and audio locally as PDF or audio files.

The Smartpen is 6.1-inch long and weighs just 1.3 ounces. It comes in anodized aluminum housing with an ARM 9 processor, 96x18 OLED display, 4GB NAND flash, lithium ion rechargeable battery (non-removable), 4GB of memory, Livescribe Desktop software for Mac or Windows, 3-D recording headset, starter dot-paper notebook, USB mobile charging cradle, protective soft case, and two-ink cartridges (including one pre-installed in the Pulse Smartpen).

For your more basic pen, Pilot has come out with the FriXion pen, which is the modern incarnation of the erasable pen. It’s a ballpoint pen with an eraser tip. Unlike a pencil, erasing the ink doesn’t leave debris on the paper because it erases through friction. This is one of Nanay’s favorite new products in her bookstore.

For those math problems that need a special kind of calculator, NBS offers a wider line of products compared with competitors with the new HP calculators. “We have various kinds like scientific, financial and graphing calculators for students taking up higher math and business classes.”

For students and professors who need to be connected all the time on campus, Smart Bro comes to the rescue — and you can even choose your school as Smart Bro has designs for the top universities. With Smart Bro, you stay connected — and loyal to your school, too.

According to Nanay, the busiest days of school-supplies shopping are usually the first week of June. With the bookstore’s thousands of products and suppliers, it can offer the best prices. “The biggest advantage of buying from NBS versus, say, Divisoria is the convenience. We are the most complete store for school supplies and we ensure the quality of the products. If it’s worth your time and effort to save in the centavos, you can go all the way to Divisoria but then again, it’s so hot there and your security is not assured. Even DTI Secretary Jesli Lapus said in one interview that he noticed some products — such as crayons, pencils and pens — are cheaper in air-conditioned bookstores than in Divisoria.”

The grand lady of school supplies is confident that this school year will be better than last — as it is every year. “Kahit hirap ang pamilya, they will send their kids to school. By nature, Filipinos are very education-conscious. It’s important to families that their kids go to school — it’s their investment.”

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National Book Store is the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines with over 120 branches in the country. It was established in the late 1930s in Escolta, Manila as a small stall selling school supplies and textbooks.

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