“Apple Inc. (AAPL) has been selling thousands of iPads to grade schools since its 2010 debut. Now it plans to beef up the educational content available for the tablet so teachers and students find those purchases worthwhile,” Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows report for Bloomberg.
“At an event in New York tomorrow, Apple will announce a set of tools that make it easier to publish interactive textbooks and other digital educational content, said two people with knowledge of the announcement, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly,” Satariano and Burrows report. “The plans, to be unveiled by Apple Internet software chief Eddy Cue, are aimed at broadening the educational materials available for the iPad, especially for students in kindergarten to 12th grade, the people said.”
Satariano and Burrows report, “By setting its sights on the $10 billion-a-year textbook industry, Apple is using the tablet to encourage students to shun costly tomes that weigh down backpacks in favor of less-expensive, interactive digital books that can be updated anywhere via the Web… Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had focused on the textbook business before his death in October. He told biographer Walter Isaacson that the industry was ripe for a digital disruption because of the interactive capabilities made possible by the iPad. Jobs had held meetings with publishers, including Pearson Education Inc., about teaming up with Apple, according to Issacson’s book, ‘Steve Jobs,’ published last year. Jobs wanted to create electronic texts and curriculum material for the iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.