Apple launched a new education initiative at a high-profile Jan. 19 event at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, focused on “reinventing textbooks” and using technology to make the classroom more engaging for students. Led by Apple executives including Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, the presentation focused on three aspects: iBooks 2, designed to bring what was described as a “new textbook experience” to the iPad; iBooks Author, which lets publishers and authors create interactive textbooks; and a revamped iTunes U, which gives educators the ability to distribute course materials and video or audio lectures. For days leading up to Apple’s event, rumors leaked that the company was prepping something related to textbooks. Before his death, Apple CEO Steve Jobs long harbored an abiding interest in creating some sort of text-book related product. “He wanted to disrupt the textbook industry and save the spines of spavined students bearing backpacks by creating electronic texts and curriculum material for the iPad,” read one passage in Jobs’ recent biography by Walter Isaacson. At another point, Jobs “agreed” with News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch that “the paper textbook business would be blown away by digital learning materials.” The time has come to see whether the prophecy can indeed come true.
of
iBooks 2
Apple’s iBooks 2 is designed to bring a “new textbook experience” to the iPad, which the company views as an evolution beyond traditional, paper-bound textbooks.
Interactive
These interactive textbooks will feature not only multimedia such as video and touchable graphics but also tools such as highlighting and search.
Notes
The software platform converts students’ notes into study cards, and alters the textbook’s layout depending on the tablet’s orientation.
iBooks Author
Apple’s other initiative, iBooks Author, lets authors and publishers create those interactive textbooks.
Edits
The iBooks Author interface seems reminiscent of Apple’s other productivity software; it offers the ability to add everything from text to graphics by drag-and-dropping, with text flowing automatically around each new added element.
Availability
Available as a free download in the Mac App Store, Apple intends iBooks Author as a tool for creating textbooks for every subject at every level, for $19.99. Any e-book created via iBooks can be published to a special area of Apple’s iBookstore hub.
iTunes U
The revamped iTunes U is a free app gives educators the ability to distribute course materials and video or audio lectures, as well as view presentations.
Course Manager
As with iBooks Author, Apple is emphasizing the supposed ease-of-use in constructing a full course, via the iTunes U Course Manager.
Windows Azure is a public cloud platform for building, hosting and scaling applications. Try Windows Azure free for 90 days and get 20GB outbound and unlimited inbound data transfer.
Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
Cloud Data Backup Now Makes Sense for SMBs: 10 Reasons Why 
HP, Lenovo, Asus Laptops, Desktops Offer Consumer Style for Busin[..]
Microsoft`s F#: 10 Reasons Why It`s a Hot Programming Language fo[..]
Data Center Efficiency: 10 Tips to Boost Productivity, Reduce Pow[..]
iPhone Apps to Kick Off the 2012 Summer Season 
Email Security: 10 Steps for Dealing With Dangerous Messages
See All Slideshows
Apple launched a new education initiative at a high-profile Jan. 19 event at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, focused on “reinventing textbooks” and using technology to make the classroom more engaging for students. Led by Apple executives including Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, the presentation focused on three aspects: iBooks 2, designed to bring what was described as a “new textbook experience” to the iPad; iBooks Author, which lets publishers and authors create interactive textbooks; and a revamped iTunes U, which gives educators the ability to distribute course materials and video or audio lectures. For days leading up to Apple’s event, rumors leaked that the company was prepping something related to textbooks. Before his death, Apple CEO Steve Jobs long harbored an abiding interest in creating some sort of text-book related product. “He wanted to disrupt the textbook industry and save the spines of spavined students bearing backpacks by creating electronic texts and curriculum material for the iPad,” read one passage in Jobs’ recent biography by Walter Isaacson. At another point, Jobs “agreed” with News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch that “the paper textbook business would be blown away by digital learning materials.” The time has come to see whether the prophecy can indeed come true.