Apple has always been bullish when it came to supporting education, and that trend continues with the announcement of an education event on January 19 at New York’s famous Guggenheim Museum.
The company’s most recent school-friendly efforts included releasing a $999 iMac specifically for the educational market this past August. If reports hold true though, then this event won’t be headlined by hardware, but rather publishing and iBooks.
Publishing? iBooks? Education? It is just me, or does it seem like Apple is preparing to make some sort of educational push with digital textbooks? There’s no official word on what exactly will be unveiled, but as a recent college grad, I can safely say that the textbook industry could do with a substantial shakeup. Of course, that’s not to say that Apple will indeed set out to ease the pain of cash-strapped students, as earlier reports noted that the event may not be a “major one.”
If Apple actually does go after textbooks though, one has to wonder how the news will affect companies like Chegg and Kno, who have sought to improve the generally onerous tasks of acquiring and making use of textbooks.