Apple’s Education Announcement – iBooks 2, Textbook Platform and iTunes U Updates

Apple today held a special press conference in New York City to unveil their newest iCraze. Today happened to be all about education. The company showed off new textbook publishing features that allow creators to create interactive textbooks with features such as 3D imaging, embedded video, and multitouch gestures. These books wouldn’t be left without a platform to publish upon though, that led the way to a second announcement, the iBooks 2.0 app.

Apple has also partnered with the big three of the textbook industry, Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt who combined represent about 90% of the market to bring books to the iPad.

If you feel like you could contribute your knowledge on almost any subject to the new market then you can use Apple’s all new textbook creation tools which were also released today.

Textbooks can be priced up to $14.99 which is a lot less than textbooks currently cost for students.

The third announcement out of Apple was the new iTunes U iPad app which effectively takes iTunes U to the iPad. It looks cool and it is available right now if you want to check it out on the iTunes store. The courses, unlike those at public institutions, are free.