iBooks textbooks can only be viewed on iPad, Study Cards helps you memorize stuff

Jan 20, 2012 08:17 GMT  ·  By

In addition to offering virtual wooden shelves and the iBookstore, Apple’s iBooks application now delivers “textbooks”, a cool new feature that allows you to “experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad”.

These are developed using the iBooks Author app, available for free from the Mac App Store.

iBooks 2 also includes a new feature called Study Cards, which allows you to keep track of important notes and terms. The full changelog (from the iTunes App Store) can be found below:

Introducing iBooks 2 — now with iBooks textbooks.

• Experience gorgeous Multi-Touch textbooks designed for iPad • iBooks textbooks are filled with interactive features, diagrams, photos, and videos • Tap to dive into images with interactive captions, rotate 3D objects, swipe through image galleries, watch videos in full screen, and more • Use a finger as a highlighter when swiping over text in a textbook • Take advantage of Study Cards to help you memorize important highlights, notes, and glossary terms • Tap glossary terms to see definitions of key topics and concepts without leaving the page

In light of the iBooks 2 launch, Apple has filled the iBookstore with textbooks on Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, and Physics from publishers McGraw-Hill and Pearson.

The Mac maker points out that, for the time being, these textbooks are available to customers that live in the United States. The company also expects to be able to deliver textbooks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt relatively soon.

There’s a long list of hardware and software requirements for iBooks 2. Regardless of what you want to use the app for, it requires at least iOS 4.2, and an Apple ID, in order to download anything from the iBookstore. To open iBooks textbook made with iBooks Author, you’ll need an iPad.

Download iBooks 2 (Free)

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

iBooks screenshot (iPad version)
iBooks 2 (textbook) promo
Open gallery