14 DAY TRIAL // In his biography of Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson makes several accounts of the man’s last goals. Revolutionizing textbooks was among those and it appears that Apple’s NYC event this month will be focused on that.
An AllThingsD report hit the wires earlier this week with information about an upcoming Apple event to be held in New York City. The focus would be advertising and / or publishing, the report said.
Clayton Morris of Fox News soon chimed in with word from his own sources who said the focus would be iTunes U and textbooks. Per his blog post…:
“Here is what I know from sources involved:
- This event will focus on iTunes University and Apple in education - I learned of the event back in September when it was originally scheduled for late Fall in New York but it was eventually postponed. - The event will be in New York rather than in the Silicon Valley because New York is more centrally located for textbook and publishing. - This initiative has been in the making for years. - The announcement will be small in size but large in scope: a big announcement in a demure space. - I expect at least two large project announcements as they relate to Apple in education. - Steve Jobs was intinimately [sic] involved with this project before his passing. He gave a hat tip to the textbook side of this project in the Isaacson biography. - This will not be a hardware-related announcement.”
As noted above, Walter Isaacson had been aware of such an initiative at the time he was doing Steve Jobs’ biography.
In his book, the renowned author wrote: “His idea was to hire great textbook writers to create digital versions, and make them a feature of the iPad. In addition, he held meetings with major publishers, such as Pearson Education, about partnering with Apple.”
And a report from Ars Technica further fuels this rumor citing sources that are reportedly privy of plans involving the EPUB 3 standard, “which enables a wider variety of multimedia and interaction features.”
One of these sources is allegedly a former Apple staffer who was tasked with integrating the technology in education.
This person recently suggested to the technology site that Apple is on pace to implement important changes in iBooks targeting "the academic set.”