Apple is tapping into the lucrative textbook industry with the new iBooks 2 application, with which users can download interactive textbooks to their iPad.
The iBooks 2 app, the second generation app to Apple’s iBook, which allows users to download electronic books to their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, educates students through interactive textbooks on the iPad.
Students will be able to read textbooks, make notes and turn them into flashcards, zoom in on detailed pictures or define unknown words immediately.
Students can download the app and buy textbooks through iTunes at $14.99 or lower.
Apple is targeting high school students and has partnered with high school textbook publishers McGraw-Hill, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Apple also announced iBooks Author, which allows users to create their own iBook.
Onlineeducation.net, a database for students to explore educational opportunities, reported in its latest blog post that on average, electronic textbooks are 53 percent cheaper than the hard copy.
