Tag: iBooks Author

Apple Event: iPad is a Huge Success, iBooks Author Updated

After Phil Schiller announced the new, thinner iMacs Tim Cook once again took the stage at today’s Apple Event. Teasing an audience impatient for the announcement of the iPad Mini, Cook began to talk about the success of Apple’s iPad lineup.

“Two weeks ago, we sold our 100 millionth iPad,” said Cook. He stated that this level of unit sales, in just two years is “unprecedented” for a product in a new category.

Cook stated that more iPads were sold in the June quarter of 2012 than any other PC manufacturer sold of its entire lineup. Also, over 90% of web traffic comes from iPad devices. The new iPad is the fastest-selling iPad and top-selling tablet of all time.

The Apple CEO then stated why the company believes its iPad devices are so successful: “People love their iPads.” No kidding. Luckily, Cook expounded upon that statement, saying the iPad’s display, responsiveness, front and rear cameras, connectivity, and “legendary all-day battery life” are factors in that love.

Cook went on to point out that the iPad has been embraced in both the education and business realms. He stated that textbooks on the iPad are now available for 80% of u.s. high school core curriculum. Also, iPads are now available in 2500 schools across the U.S., though in what capacity they were available wasn’t adressed. With respect to business, Cook stated that 94% of fortune 500 companies are now “testing or deploying an iPad.”

Cook then announced that iBooks Author has gotten an update. The new iBooks Author will enable embedded fonts, as well as mathematical expressions that can be inserted directly into books. Multi-touch widgets are also now available, and Cook stated that “publishers can now easily update their books.” It was stated that Apple is trying to re-invent the textbook with multimedia and interactive options.

The new iBooks Author will be available today, for free, in the Mac App Store.

October 23, 2012
Apple Updates Controversial iBooks Author License Agreement

When Apple released their new e-book creation tool, iBooks Author, last month there was an initial rush of enthusiasm. After all, quality e-book creation tools are rare, especially at the price Apple charged – free. Almost immediately, though, there was controversy. It seems that tucked away in the iBooks Author end user license agreement was a provision stating that books made in iBooks Author could only be sold through Apple’s own iBookstore. Users could give books away in whatever venue they wanted, but if the books were going to be sold, they had to be sold through Apple (complete with Apple’s standard 30% cut).

Today, Apple has released iBooks Author 1.01. It looks like the only change to the app is the EULA, which has been amended to clarify exactly what rights Apple does and does not claim over books created with iBooks Author. The big point Apple clarifies in the new EULA is that they are not claiming any rights or ownership of the content of books created in iBooks Author. That is, when you make an e-book in the .ibook format, Apple requires that you sell the book through their store, but they do not claim any ownership over the content of the book itself. They only claim to restrict the venue in which you can sell the book.

The new EULA also emphasizes that the iBookstore restriction only applies to .ibook files. That is, if you use iBooks Author to create a file in another format (PDF and .txt files are supported), you can sell it wherever or however you like. Only the .ibook format is restricted. Which makes sense, really, since iBooks is the only software application that will read .ibook files anyway.

February 3, 2012
Apple Sells 350,000 Textbooks In Three Days

Apple’s announcement on Thursday that they were entering into the textbook market was generally met with enthusiasm, despite controversy over the EULA for their new iBooks Author tool. The program promised to deliver textbooks as interactive ebooks for $14.99 or less.

Now it looks like positive buzz isn’t the only reaction Apple has gotten to the announcement. According to Global Equity Research (via AllThingsD) Apple sold 350,000 textbooks in the three days following the announcement. The report also showed upwards of 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author.

Though these numbers could be a surge due to the newness of the product, if they remain consistent it could be a major boon both to Apple and to textbook publishers, as well as to education in general. Much depends on Apple’s ability to persuade schools to adopt their textbook program, though. It will be interesting to see how this progresses in the coming months and years. The timing of Apple’s announcement is helpful, however, as it gives school boards and teachers plenty of time to weigh implementation before the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

January 23, 2012
iBooks Author Books Can Only Be Sold Through iBookstore

Apple’s announcement yesterday of iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U signaled the company’s desire to revolutionize both the textbook industry in particular and education in general. While reactions to the announcement have been largely positive, some controversy has sprung up concerning iBooks Author. The Mac app is a tool that allows users to produce e-books quickly and easily, and to insert the kind of interactive elements that Apple showed off in their presentation yesterday.

The controversy comes from a provision of the app’s End User License Agreement – that thing that you always click to accept but never actually read. Well, tucked away in iBooks Author’s EULA is a provision that has raised a few eyebrows. Here is the actual quote from the EULA:

If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.

A later section of the EULA contains the following:

B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:
(i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;
(ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.

In other words, books made in iBooks Author can only be sold in the iBookstore, and Apple will require their customary 30% cut. On the one hand, the requirement seems reasonable: iBooks Author is a free tool, and it makes sense for them to want a cut of profits made from a tool they give away. On the other hand, Apple’s attempt to lock down distribution of content created with any software tool is unprecedented. No company that distributes content creation tools – music editing software, word processors, images editors, even other ebook creation tools – restricts what users do with their content after its created.

January 20, 2012
Apple Announces iBooks 2, iBooks Author, iTunes U App

Apple announced the launch of iBooks 2 in New York City today. As expected, the update to Apple’s e-reader software is aimed squarely at textbooks. Textbooks in iBooks 2 include an amazing array of interactive features, including videos, interactive 3D models, and built-in glossaries. iBooks 2 also includes a wide array of highlighting and note taking options, as well as instant feedback on students’ answers to exercises contained in the text.

Apple also announced iBooks Author, a Mac app that lets users create ebooks that include the full range of iBooks 2’s interactive features. It includes the ability to import videos, Keynote presentations, HTML or Java code, and create widgets like those found on the OS X dashboard. The software also makes it easy to create glossaries for ebooks. Clicking on a word creates a glossary entry for it, and allows the user to enter a definition.

Also part of the announcement was a new project called Life On Earth, an “attempt to recreate the biology textbook” by E.O. Wilson, professor emeritus of biology at Harvard University. The book will be available in the iBookstore chapter by chapter. The first two chapters are available now for free, while other “aggressively priced” chapters will be coming later.

Textbooks in the iBooks store are aimed at the high school market to begin with, and will be selling for $14.99 or less. Apple also announced partnerships with Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which account for roughly 90% of the textbook market. Each company is starting with a range of basic textbooks available in the iBookstore

Apple also announced an app for iTunes U, its program for making university-level curriculum freely available. The service is currently used primarily for delivering lectures. The new app is meant to turn iTunes U into an entire course management platform. The iTunes U app allows users to track assignments, watch or listen to lectures, take notes, and read assigned materials. Six schools, including Duke, Stanford, MIT, and Yale, have had early access to the new iTunes U and used it to create over 100 online courses. What’s more, while iTunes U has, as the name suggests, been primarily focused on higher education, it is now available for K-12 schools as well.

All three apps – iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U are live in the App Store right now, and all three are free. iBooks Author is a Mac app, while iTunes U is a universal iOS app. iBooks 2 is also a universal app, just as it has always been, but the textbook features showcased today are only available on the iPad.

January 19, 2012