All we acknowledge for sure about Apple ’s upcomingpress case on January 19is what it say on the invitation : It ’s at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City , and it ’s focused on education .
Sure , an Department of Education event does n’t have the same full appeal as one with a annoyer like “ Let ’s verbalize iPhone , ” but still — this is an Apple event . We ’re all eager to learn just what Cupertino plans to announce , but in the lag , we ’ll predict about it instead .
To hash out the many and wide-ranging possibility , we assembled a scissure team of expert . Sadly , they declined to contribute to the clause , and so it was left to us to stroke our chins and pontificate on what Apple might educate us about next week . Then we released each other ’s chins and started writing . And , as you ’ll see , we kept cut off each other .
iBook ’em, Danno
Apple already offer an extensive amount of education contentedness , as anybody who ’s ever delved into theiTunes uracil section of the iTunes Storewell knows . There , you may find lecture and class from some of the worldly concern ’s most esteemed institutions of high pedagogy , including Oxford and MIT .
But as the honest-to-goodness rime “ No more pencils , no more book ” suggests , Christian Bible and learning go together like James Bond and vodka martini . Which , coincidentally , go together like learning and vodka martini — which is to say , quite well . And while Apple ’s iBookstore offers mass of educational Koran , the company to particular date ca n’t rival the breadth , profundity , andrental - based affordability of Amazon textbook offering . Plus , in a day and age where evenpilots are replacing heavy reaper binder of newspaper publisher with iPads , should n’t we judge to save the perpetually bowed dorsum of students everywhere by according them the same option ?
So , among the most prominent announcements next week , we ’d wager on some sort of deal struck between Apple , textbook publisher , and colleges and university — call it aneducation à trois . Apple has stiff links with high education institutions already — see the aforesaid iTunes U. If it can receive a way to leverage those relationships to make it easygoing to distribute electronic textbooks to student , it could get a leg up on Amazon ’s current model .
If indeed Apple plan to declare not just more low-cost textbook options for scholarly person , but also more interactive , immersive ebook experiences , that may well suggest two associate announcements to go along with it : iBooks for Mac ( the ebook - indication program , not the long - discontinued laptop tune ) , and new tools for creating ebooks .
Dan : But why would Apple introduce iBooks for Macs now , Lex ? The company has shown little pursuit in letting people read ebooks on their calculator so far , and it seems like the iPad and iPhone would be much more intuitive platforms for e - reading .
Lex : It ’s a swell point , Dan . But my mentation process is this : If publishers start taking the prison term to create unique , customs books for iBooks , colleges may experience that Apple should make those books useable to everyone — even kinsfolk who ( for some reason ) run low the Xoom route rather . Students who stick around with Amazon ’s ecosystem can read their textbooks on iOS and Android twist , on the WWW , and with consecrate Mac and personal computer software system . To date , Apple ’s been mostly stillborn at unseating Amazon as the king of the ebook market ; I cogitate it would be a mistake for Apple to stay on its scheme of limiting iBook consumption to iOS twist only .
Dan : You have convert me , Lex . Vive la iBooks for Mac !
Lex : And how do you sense about our ebook - creation puppet prediction ? A new tool from Apple , available to all ? Freely ? Or what ? Tell me , Dan !
Dan : Thanks for the prompt , Lex . I ’d almost forget . Because if there ’s one thing ePub creation is n’t correctly now , it ’s elegant . And Apple loves elegance like Joanie have a go at it Chachi . While Sir Frederick Handley Page can be used to create ePub files , it ’s a cumbersome process , and professionals — including those on our staff responsible for for the ebook interlingual rendition of our Superguides — often turn to other tool . Which , if you may believe it , are even less substance abuser friendly . By create its own set of ePub world tools , Apple would not only find themselves in the good graces of all of those folks , but would also be able to raise the innate good luck charm and power of iBooks as an e - reader client , such as making it easy to make interactive content . ePub is an open monetary standard , but iBooks ’s enhanced potentiality can go above and beyond mere text , as long as book Lord can well get titles with those feature .
Lex : Wow . I hope Apple offers such a book - publishing tool , because that last paragraph is nearly as long as a novel . But thanks for reminding me about Pages ’s ability to create ePub books ; that makes me enquire whether an update to Pages and/or the entirety of the iWork suite may be in the offing . We should compose about that , too .
iWork it
The desktop incarnation of iWork — Apple ’s Microsoft Office - compatible threesome of Pages , Numbers , and Keynote — is catch a bite long in the virtual tooth , the last major revise having arrived in 2009 . Plus , the entourage still does n’t integrate flat with itsiOS counterparts via iCloud , a maturation that Apple has antecedently promised .
But even though it ’s clear that iWork is due for an update , a question remains : What , on the nose , could Apple add to it — besides iCloud support — that would deserve such a formal annunciation ? And why at an teaching event ?
Dan : You might be right . In increase , I think Apple might feel that it ’s rent Microsoft govern the training market with Office for far too long now . And as Cupertino has increasingly made inroad into education via its compelling hardware , it seems only meet that it reassert its software product in that market as well , harken back to the resplendence days of the Apple II . So , perhaps we ’ll see some education - specific upgrade to iWork that will deserve attention during the event .
Apple pie-in-the-sky
Beyond a splashier school text offer , iBooks for Mac , an ebook publishing shaft , and underage iWork update , we ca n’t really envisage any major proclamation at this event . Still , we have n’t forgotten how to daydream .
While we do n’t think it ’s even remotely likely , this could be just the upshot to uncover , say , an “ Education Department - only iPad”—a sleazy , student - focused , 8 GB edition with a price meant to target Amazon ’s successfulKindle Fire pad of paper .
In fact , though , we likely wo n’t see any computer hardware at next week ’s event . While Apple has in the past offered some manikin specifically for the education marketplace , such as the eMac , or grim - end rendering of the iMac and MacBook , those sidereal day seem to be long belong . If anything , the company would probably be easily served by deepening the discount rate it offer on its survive product lines , and fake deals that make it more low-priced for educational instauration to equip their students and faculty with Apple gimmick .
Still , if there ’s a $ 300 8 GB iPad , we ’ll be first in line . Especially if it support Siri . Who , frankly , would make a more interesting teacher than many of the lecturers we had in college .
Lex : Zing ! I believe we cease it there . go out on a gamey annotation .
[ Dan Moren is a elderly associate editor in chief . Lex Friedman is a staff author . They managed to drop a line this bio without interrupting each other . ]
