Apple Expected to Announce Ebook Publishing Platform
We've heard Apple's education announcement could have something to do with digital textbooks. Now, word has it the company is going to announce and ebook publishing platform.
Last week, Apple confirmed rumors that it would hold a press event in New York City before the end of the month. Scheduled for Thursday, Apple is making an announcement related to education, that much we know. However, the latest rumors paint a more detailed picture of the announcement, and a much more interesting one, too.
Ars Technica is today citing sources close to the situation that say Apple's upcoming event will focus on a platform that allows users to create interactive ebooks. Ars describes it as "GarageBand for ebooks" and says Apple plans to distribute them to iPhone and iPad users. Just as the likes of Final Cut Pro and iMove aid users in the production of content, these new tools are expected to continue in a similar vein, enabling publishers to produce content for consumption specifically on Apple devices.
Of course, you don't need us to tell you that this move makes complete sense from Apple's point of view. At a time when the education industry is looking towards tablets and ebooks as a substitute for heavy physical books, a decision to offer its own production and distribution platform would place Apple and its iPad at the top the pile for many schools.
Apple's event is just a couple of days away, so we'll keep you posted on this one. Stay tuned for more.
- Woz: I Wish My iPhone Did Everything My Android Does
- Philips Healwell Medical Lighting Speeds Up Recovery
- Muno Yo Gabba Gabba Clock Guaranteed to Wake Your Kids
- ION Audio's iCade Shows Off New iPad Arcade Accessories
- Futuristic Lenses Will Make Deus Ex Vision a Reality
- Modular Cubelets Let You Create Your Own Robots
- Samsung's Navibot S Gives Roomba a Run for its Money
- The Pirate Bay to Stop Hosting Torrents
- Audi's Urban Concept Electric Car is Insanely Cool Looking
- Wikipedia to Go Dark Tomorrow in Opposition of SOPA
- Apple Files Lawsuit Against 10 Samsung Smartphones
- RIM CEO 'Pushing' for Samsung to Purchase the Company
- Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang Unexpectedly Resigns
- Gaikai's David Perry Confirms Upcoming Facebook Launch
- MPAA Calls SOPA Blackout Day Dangerous and Irresponsible
- Did Samsung Tease the Galaxy S III Smartphone at CES?
- IPv6 to Finally Go Mainstream in June 2012
- Samsung: We Don't Want to Buy RIM BlackBerry
- SOPA Drama Creates ESA Rival, the League For Gamers
Good luck competing on price with Kindle and Amazon. You will pay a premium for Apple's version of the same book.
Apple invents the E-book. Great news story.
Legislation should be put in place from now to ensure that what ever platform used in the education system, is open.
Revolutionary idea! E-books and interactive learning. This will change everything!
Jobs might be gone, but the innovation is still there (not).
Good luck competing on price with Kindle and Amazon. You will pay a premium for Apple's version of the same book.
No you won't, as apple will prevent anyone else from publishing ebooks, even if they were doing it first :S
Hilarious. All it takes is "Apple" in the title and the idiots are out in full force claiming that whatever they're doing is crap.
Hey idiots, Apple didn't invent e-books, learning or publishing. What they are supposed to announce is a method that makes publishing of content easy (the current state of the industry is a complete mess) from complex university textbooks right down to grade school. If it's what people are expecting, even teachers would be able to publish "mini-textbooks" specific to their class even down to individual lessons and make them easily available.
would this be similar to the Kindle Platform?
There is an entire underground industry that is hardly ever reported on, the pirating of textbooks - My E-Book format of choice, PDF
I remember back in the day (grade-school), my teacher would hand out copies of work with the a statement on the bottom that said "DO NO XEROX" on it... I asked my teacher "is this legal" and their response was "Your education is expensive! Unless you want to all share a single book, don't say anything." Fair enough... free sounded good to me!
We've come so far... or have we?
Lets see here... Apple want to pump out a new product... All there previous first releases (all there first runs) have come with some detrimental flaw... Its safe to assume that this will come out Broken to.
My only question is who's going to do the PR spin to save there ass now that Steve is gone?
reading books on a ipad is ridiculous with the overly bright screen. Kindle Fire FTW
Hilarious. All it takes is "Apple" in the title and the idiots are out in full force claiming that whatever they're doing is crap.Hey idiots, Apple didn't invent e-books, learning or publishing.
They didn't invent the tablet, smartphone or mp3 player but ask random people and some will say they did.
Doesn't someone already have a patent on this? Maybe it is the "interactive" part that will grant them an edge. Then you will see Amazon or B&N try to implement something similar, and guess what comes next?
Personal log: Stardate 311044.97
Yippie, go apple! Now a new format will be available .icrap, heavily encrypted, no voice read back on the device, $50 a book, you have 10 days to read it and then you have to buy it again if you didn't finish. And now you claim you invented ebooks (even though RCA beat you by 11 years and it wasnt too bad, mine still works), but hey yours is thin and shiny and has rounded corners .... sue all other book reader makers for stealing your idea. Sigh, almost finished with my apple nuke, last shipment was a box of freaking pinball machine parts...... That Emmett Brown person will pay.... off to bed to dream about pizza, nite.
reading books on a ipad is ridiculous with the overly bright screen. Kindle Fire FTW
I like the fire, but my kids are finding the 1click kinda annoying when the grandkids buy stuff by accident and charges show up on the credit cards, lol. Hope they fix that real fast. It is nice to put all of my baen books on though.
They didn't invent the tablet, smartphone or mp3 player but ask random people and some will say they did.
They invented the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone, the best selling devices in their genre of all time.
That's more impressive than who strung together a half-cocked not-fully-working tablet first (the inventor).
Hilarious. All it takes is "Apple" in the title and the idiots are out in full force claiming that whatever they're doing is crap.
Completely agree. Nobody is claiming Apple invented e-reading, but haters gon' hate.
What Apple may have invented (or developed) is an easier way of publishing content for teachers. Not something to slate them for.
[u]Legislation should be put in place from now to ensure that what ever platform used in the education system, is open. [/u]
Anything put out by Apple will be locked-down, proprietary, also both mediocre and expensive. So there is little chance that what they put out will promote open standards. Apple is a parasite defrauding the clueless technologically sub-literate zombies out there.
technologically sub-literate?
$14.99 per book instead of $99 for a hard copy.
Free app, and free app for publishers. 'Mediocre and expensive'?
Google search engine is locked-down and proprietary. I assume you boycott?