It’s no secret that students around the world are carrying too-heavy backpacks full of large, thick textbooks and handouts for school. What if, though, they could carry just one, thin slab, chock full of interactive text books and worksheets? That could be the story Apple weaves today in its Education Announcement event in New York City. You’ll only know for certain, though, if you follow this live bog.
Apple’s not saying a word about what’s to come, but the Cupertino, CA-based tech company may have sprung a few leaks, anyway. According to reports from the New York Times and Apple Insider, the company will unveil a new interactive ebook toolkit that could make creating iPad-ready schoolbooks and handouts as easy as crafting a song in GarageBand. Apple’s aspirations should come as no surprise. Founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, who passed away last year at the age of 56, made clear in interviews with his biographer Walter Isaacson, that education was very important to him and Apple. He had even targeted textbooks as the next business he wanted to solve.
Jobs and his Apple counterparts have built a pretty good track record for solving various tech and market conundrums. With Jobs gone it seems only natural that current Apple CEO Tim Cook would want to carry on his legacy. Can Apple solve education? Is the iPad the ultimate device for free, uncertified textbooks? Is your child’s backpack about to get a whole lot lighter? We’ll answer these and other questions during today’s live blog. Make sure you stick around for the whole thing, because there are bound to be some surprises.
The live blog begins right here at 9:30 a.m. ET.
More About: apple, ebooks, education, ipad, trending
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