Apple has announced its long-awaited move into the digital textbook market, unveiling a new bookstore for its iPad tablets, a free publishing tool to help authors create interactive instructional materials and a new application for its “iTunes U” service for sharing university courses.
At its first launch since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs last year, Apple emphasised the potential to accelerate the transformation of an industry that has already invested heavily in digital materials and its intention to work with publishers.
Printed textbooks were “not the ideal modern teaching tool, yet the content is amazing”, said Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of marketing, as he hailed the potential of technology to improve students’ results.