Apple is looking to conquer the textbook market, unveiling a new textbook platform along with several major publishing partners during an event Thursday at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.
A few Apple executives took the stage to introduce iBooks 2, which the Cupertino-Calif.-based company hopes students begin to use in place of standard textbooks.
Apple already has 1.5 million iPads in use at schools with more than 20,000 education apps, but marketing chief Phil Schiller only sees those numbers growing.
While books provide valuable content, Schiller argued that they are impractical for children, who can benefit from the portability and interactivity of an iPad.
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Available in the app store at a cost of $14.99 or less, the books will offer video, 3D animated models and different reading formats. There will also be features like definitions, study cards and quizzes all built in to the books.
Among Apple’s partners in this initiative are Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson.
Apple also unveiled a second new education initiative, iBooks Author. The free app allows the user to create his or her own interactive book.