"The books that we're starting to work on that will be new for the 2007-2008 cycle will be going through the normal revision process—and this will be a big part of that revision," says David Hakensen, vice-president of public relations for Pearson Education, a large publisher of elementary, secondary, and professional-level textbooks. (McGraw-Hill, the parent company of BusinessWeek.com and one of the world's largest publishers of textbooks, was not contacted for comment.)

On the other hand, some retailers of science merchandise are excited about the novelty factor that might spur sales in coming weeks. After all, it's not every day that you can own a solar system replica that is categorically inaccurate.

Outer space exposure
PhysLINK, a Long Beach, Calif.-based Web site, stocks about 45 product models that label Pluto as a planet, including books, posters, and mechanical planetarium toys. When asked how he plans to get rid of or make up for the cost of this obsolete inventory, the site's owner, Anton Skorucak, says he expects a surge in customers who want to invest in the products' limited-edition nature.

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"I'm actually anticipating that sales of these items will skyrocket," he says. "I think they'll be collectibles, because this is the last time you can get these." To uphold his responsibilities to educators, however, Skorucak will soon update the site with a disclaimer declaring that anyone who purchases the products must be aware of their scientific inaccuracies.

Probably least affected by all the hubbub are the numerous companies that are merely named after the former ninth planet. "People find the craziness of our name appealing," says Marc Ilgen, owner of West of Pluto Software, a California-based company that makes mobile-phone applications. "My immediate reaction is that in the short term there might be some positive effect from the announcement, from things like incidental Web traffic."

And Jerry Bugas, the owner of Pluto's, a California restaurant chain that advertises "Fresh Food for a Hungry Universe," said he views the whole issue as a positive. "If anything, it's more exposure. … It strengthens our conviction of how we feel about Pluto and how we create a theme that goes along with it."

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