CNet reports that, after receiving $30 million in venture capital funding ($20 million of that from Intel), Kno—maker of the ambitious double-screened tablet textbook project we’ve mentioned a few times—is dumping the hardware side of its business and going strictly into educational software production.

This doesn’t exactly come as a surprise—we reported in February that Kno was seeking to get out of the hardware business. It’s probably a very wise move on Kno’s part, given how crowded the “iPad-killer” market is starting to become. The Kno tablet was going to be larger, pricier, and heavier than the iPad, and it wasn’t clear how well it would be able to compete.

But it doesn’t appear Kno’s tablet design itself is dead: as part of the deal, Intel will acquire the blueprints for Kno’s hardware devices and pass them on to OEMs. Perhaps devices made to those specifications will eventually appear, after all. Regardless, Kno’s software will be available for more tablet designs than just ones made to its specifications.

It remains to be seen how widely-adopted Kno’s educational software will be. Still, the connections it made with universities during the Kno tablet’s original development process can’t hurt.

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