New Education Apps for iPad

At today’s Education Event at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, Apple, via Phil Schiller, senior vice president of marketing, announced some new apps centered around the use of iPad in schools. The move is not really a surprise, as Apple has been rumored to have some plans in the works to take on the use of standard textbooks.

Working with top textbook companies, including Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Apple debuted iBooks 2 and iBooks Author, part of a newly-revamped iTunes U. iBooks 2 and iTunes U are available for download now in the iTunes Store and iBooks Author is available now in the Mac App Store.

iBooks 2 features textbooks available for download for $14.99 or less.

From Apple:

“The iBookstore offers high school textbooks on topics such as algebra, biology, chemistry, and geometry from McGraw-Hill and Pearson to customers in the United States. Textbooks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are coming soon. Students will experience gorgeous full-screen textbooks on their iPads that feature text as well as interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, 3D objects, and more. With iBook textbooks, students can highlight text, take notes, search for content, use study cards, and find glossary definitions.”

With the iTunes U app, users have access to “complete courses from leading universities” and can take classes online. With the iBooks Author app, one can now create “stunning textbooks, history books and more” for iPad.

From Apple:

“iBooks Author features Apple-designed templates with a wide variety of layouts. It’s easy to add photo galleries, videos, 3D objects, Keynote presentations, lesson reviews, and more. Preview your book on iPad before submitting it to the iBookstore for purchase or as a free download.”

To get started with iBooks Author, you must do the following:

• Create an iBookstore seller account.
• Download iTunes Producer, the application that submits your book to the iBookstore.
• Have an active contract. For more information, sign in to iTunes Connect and go to Contracts, Tax, and Banking.
• Create a sample book.

Then, you can publish your book to the iBookstore for all to see.

For more information, visit the product pages or click through to the apps above.
iBooks 2
iBooks Author
iTunes U