TORONTO- Apple's announcement on Thursday about a series of new educational-themed experiences might make many wish they were students again.
As speculated, Apple did get into the digital textbook game, and more.
Phil Schiller, VP of Marketing said the first announcement would not only accelerate and make it easier to use iPads for students, but would also "reinvent the textbook" - iBooks 2. With more than 1.5 million iPads in use in educational programs, the revamped book-stand now includes education-specific features.
Some of these features include animation and a section called "My Notes" that pulls study notes together and makes virtual 3 x 5 cards out of them. Apple's partnered with textbook makers Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, as the trio are responsible for 90 per cent of all textbooks sold.
For a cost of $14.99 or less, Apple said textbooks about every subject for every grade level and every student are expected to be available.
Apple then announced a new app for creating free books: iBooks Author OS X. It's an application for making textbooks and while it's focused on educators, anyone can publish a book with the app. Users can drop Word files in on a chapter and automatically create sections and headers. The app lays out pages automatically and publishes right to bookstore.
The app is free and available on the Mac App Store. Next on the agenda was announcing an overhaul for iTunes U.
The service which delivers educational content has been downloaded 700 million times since it launched four years ago. Now, Apple intends to create full online courses where teachers can send updates to students through a Tab section. Assignments can pop right into a user's iBooks and students can even rate and sign up for classes.
© The Canadian Press, 2012