Richard Joslin analyses the claim from Apple that it will "reinvent textbooks."
Apple announced its iBooks 2 app for iPad product last week, claiming it will “reinvent textbooks”. The tech giant made its usual grandiose statements about its new product, announcing that iBooks 2 will revolutionise learning by “inspiring creativity”, with dynamic features such as “fluid navigation, easy highlighting and note-taking”.
Unveiled on January 19, over 300,000 copies of the seven textbooks available were downloaded within three days, at $14.99 each but it is, unclear how many of these paid downloads were the free sample book E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth.
Five of the seven titles are from publisher McGraw Hill Education, with a spokesman saying: “The previous version of iBooks didn’t allow for the kinds of things we wanted to do, but iBooks 2 has it all: videos, music, touch. Sheet music, for example, will now be synchronized with you, automatically moving through the piece, as you practice your instrument.”
However, there has been a large amount of criticism of the iBook Author’s user agreement, which keeps in line with the perceived “locked down” nature of the Apple ecosystem. Steve Kohach of Business Insider pointed out that “even though it’s your creation, Apple claims ownership over it simply because you used its app to make it.” Glyn Moody, tech blogger, criticised the service in a blog post entitled: “Apple’s iBooks 2: an attack on educational freedoms”. Many have concerns about leaving poorer students behind in the future due to the extremely high price of Apple products and services.