Apple Set to Reinvent E-books with Simple New Publishing Tools
Apple’s first event of the new year is coming up this week, on Thursday, January 19th. The invitations sent out last week to media read, “Join us for an education event in the Big Apple,” sparking lots of speculation about what Apple is planning on announcing (more here and here).
Most people in the tech and news communities believe that Apple’s event will be the first step towards a revolution of the current publishing system.
According to Ars Technica, Apple is going to announce tools that will help textbook authors to create interactive e-books and to distribute them on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
The first part of the announcement will concern Apple’s format of choice. The company currently uses ePub 2 with HTML-5 to enable audio and video, but a newly updated ePub 3 standard is all inclusive, allowing for native audio and video without extensions. It is likely that Apple will announce its support for the ePub 3 standard for iBooks, which may have the unfortunate consequence of making Apple’s e-books incompatible with other e-readers.
Apple is also expected to announce new software tools for digital publishing, which currently is no simple task to format. Apple will make it much easier for authors to self-publish content using Apple’s tools.
Schools and students have been adopting iPads with fervor, but thus far, an iPad is unable to replace a textbook in most situations. Easy to use tools and a new format that supports audio and video interactivity could potentially revolutionize the way that we learn. Textbooks won’t be limited to just words on paper. Imagine a textbook that can teach you a concept with both an explanation and a video, and then help you study for the test with pre-programmed flash cards, sample problems, and 3D models.
And of course, since our iPads are inherently connected to the world around us, students will be able to share notes, concepts, and thoughts with other students, promoting a learning anywhere type of environment.
The future is digital, and Apple is leading us there. Inefficient and limited paper textbooks will be a thing of the past when interactive learning takes over.
What does that have to do with the overall publishing industry? Well, Apple’s tools aren’t going to be limited to textbook users. If Apple does indeed release an easy-self-publishing tool, it could provide authors with a way to skirt traditional publishing, and challenge Amazon’s own self-publishing tools.
Apple is taking the first step towards a brave new world, and new forms of interactivity might possibly change the way that we read and the way that books are written.