At a media event in New York City earlier today, Apple announced the release of iBooks 2 for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The update adds support for iBooks textbooks, "an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive." iBooks textbooks offers students the ability to purchase a book from the iBookstore that includes "interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more."
Top-name publishers are already onboard with iBooks textbooks, including: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson. Most books will be priced at $14.99 or less. Apple also released a new, free tool called iBooks Author to the Mac App Store today (App Store link), allowing nearly anyone to make their own electronic book.
The new iBooks 2 app is available today as a free download from the App Store™. With support for great new features including gorgeous, fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos, the iBooks 2 app will let students learn about the solar system or the physics of a skyscraper with amazing new interactive textbooks that come to life with just a tap or swipe of the finger. With its fast, fluid navigation, easy highlighting and note-taking, searching and definitions, plus lesson reviews and study cards, the new iBooks 2 app lets students study and learn in more efficient and effective ways than ever before.
iBooks Author is also available today as a free download from the Mac App Store and lets anyone with a Mac create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books and more, and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore. Authors and publishers of any size can start creating with Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. iBooks Author lets you add your own text and images by simply dragging and dropping, and with the Multi-Touch™ widgets you can easily add interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote® presentations and 3D objects.
The iBooks 2 update is already available for download via the App Store (link) on either a computer or iOS device. Full release notes are below:
- Experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad
- iBooks textbooks are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, and videos
- Tap to dive into images with interactive captions, rotate 3D objects, swipe through image galleries, watch videos in full screen, and more
- Use a finger as a highlighter when swiping over text in a textbook
- Take advantage of Study Cards to help you memorize important highlights, notes, and glossary terms
- Tap glossary terms to see definitions of key topics and concepts without leaving the page
[...] an event in New York City earlier today, Apple unveiled iBooks 2 and iBooks textbooks, which are more interactive and intuitive books for students in college. The company also [...]