Apple Launches iBooks 2, iBooks Author

T.H.E. Journal – Tim Sohn, David Nagel

19-Jan

At a press event held Thursday morning at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Apple introduced iBooks 2, a new version of the company’s e-book software for iPad that adds new textbook functionality. The company also announced iBooks Author, which provides free, interactive tools to create e-books. Educational partners providing e-textbooks in the iBooks2 store include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. Genevieve Share, Pearson’s CIO and director of digital strategy, said that the pricing model is on a per student/per year basis. “That works for us. Our plan is always to make as many books available and affordable to as many students as possible.” When asked what kind of an impact the iBooks 2 textbook publishing model might have on the six-year textbook adoption cycle, Wendy Spiegel, Pearson’s senior vice president of communications, said, “I don’t know that we know what the future of the six-year cycle is.”

http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/01/19/apple-launches-ibooks-2-ibooks-author.aspx