Back to School

In a rare non-hardware related press gathering today in New York, Apple unveiled perhaps the most obvious addition for iOS book readers - especially iPad users - since the platform was first introduced back in 2010: digital textbooks.

It's a big day for the publishing world, especially for those who follow the world of academic textbooks and classes. Not only has Apple upgraded their popular iBooks app to present and interact with textbooks, they've also released a new authoring tool to let Mac users create and publish their own digital masterpieces. And to help tie these packages together nicely, they're even letting universities and schools put their best and brightest online and share with the rest of the world.

While unsurprising, it's not hard to recognize the significance of Apple approaching the world of academia and textbooks as they are, especially when you consider the company essentially made their name (and brand) by supplying many schools their first-ever computers back in the 1980s, impacting the way students studied and learned forever.

iBooks 2 and iBooks Author

iBooks has always been many iOS users' go-to tool for reading the latest blockbuster, but the latest refresh is definitely geared towards education. The updated iBooks 2 treats users to "gorgeous, fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos" for an experience that simply can't be duplicated by their paper counterparts. Students can anoint passages, generate pop-quizzes, create flash cards, and even sync up their changes direct to the iBook App.

And it's not just the back-breaking load of carrying a library of dead-tree books with you that's getting lighter; textbooks will run just $14.99 or less. Apple's already signed up most of the bigger textbook publishers, including Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and that's just the beginning.

For those more interested in creating books than simply reading them, iBooks Author lets Mac users "create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books and more "by "simply dragging and dropping, and with the Multi-Touch widgets" and to "easily add interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations and 3D objects." Basically, it's a WYSIWYG editor for easy book authoring.

iTunes U App

To help tie Apple's grand educational plans together, the company's collegiate iTunes U program is also getting a substantial upgrade, as the free-to-use service expands to the mainstream by allowing anyone with an browser and iOS device teach and take entire courses online.

The new iTunes U app not only makes all necessary materials available, including "lectures, assignments, books, quizzes and syllabuses", but also lets educators "quickly and easily create, manage and share their courses, quizzes and handouts through a web-based tool and utilize content and links from the iTunes U app, the Internet, iBookstore or the App Store," letting them update notes, stream lectures, and communicate directly with students. Even better, students can use the service to sign up for new courses.

Cambridge, Duke, Harvard, Oxford and Stanford are already onboard, and any K-12 school district is free to sign up and offer full courses using the service.

And the best part is that you won't have to wait to get in on all this reading fun as iBooks 2 is available right now in the App Store as is the new iTunes U app, though some features will only be available for iPad users. iBooks Author is available now in the Mac App Store only as a free download.