Apple Posts Video of iBooks and iTunes U Media Event

I missed Steve on stage... :(

didnt even know iTunes U existed, is that another PING.

Nope iTunes U was great and they made it better.

...
What nonsense. You have to carry a few books around at Uni, so what? Did this really need 'fixing'? I didn't pass all the time ago through moaning about a heavy bag, students just get on with it. And most of the time you're in a library anyway, tucked away with your own stash of books. I can have as many books as I want open, and just used some PostIt's to keep important pages. You own a book;

[LIST=1]
[*]It doesn't live off a battery.
[*]You drop it, it doesn't smash.
[*]You buy the books you need without a base cost just to 'read' them.
[*]Re-sell value.
[*]Using 'real' books would develop better cognitive skills than learning how to use an iPad.
[/LIST]

Call it sentimental value, but I can't see myself warming to a virtual 'textbook' in my iBook shelf, which is basically a piece of a software anyway. Many of the texts I bought for University are beautiful things, and I pride having them sit on my shelf, ready to flick through. They may not be 'interactive', but isn't that what an imagination is for?
....

Back in my day we WALKED to school. We didn't have no SCHOOOOOL BUS. NO SIR! We walked in the snow uphill, BOTH WAYS! We didn't need no new-fangled CAL-CU-LA-TERS. We counted on our fingers. Some kids didn't even have ten fingers because they lost some to frost bight in the snow. But, that was the way it was, and we liked it. BY GOLLY WE LOVED IT!

This presentation just makes me feel sick. It was an immediate facepalm once Phil's "video" came into play... Yep, lets do the usual routine of tugging on everyones hearts, play some sad piano music in the background, zoom into some people who look concerned, and pretend that a huge dilemma exists. In other words, Apple create a problem.

And who's gonna fix that problem? Apple! Buy our £395 product and we'll revolutionise education!

What nonsense. You have to carry a few books around at Uni, so what? Did this really need 'fixing'? I didn't pass all the time ago through moaning about a heavy bag, students just get on with it. And most of the time you're in a library anyway, tucked away with your own stash of books. I can have as many books as I want open, and just used some PostIt's to keep important pages. You own a book;

[LIST=1]
[*]It doesn't live off a battery.
[*]You drop it, it doesn't smash.
[*]You buy the books you need without a base cost just to 'read' them.
[*]Re-sell value.
[*]Using 'real' books would develop better cognitive skills than learning how to use an iPad.
[/LIST]

Call it sentimental value, but I can't see myself warming to a virtual 'textbook' in my iBook shelf, which is basically a piece of a software anyway. Many of the texts I bought for University are beautiful things, and I pride having them sit on my shelf, ready to flick through. They may not be 'interactive', but isn't that what an imagination is for?

It doesn't matter how much these 'books' are, $15 or not, because not all schools or pupils can even afford iPad's. If Apple were that serious about education, they'd crawl out of their clean-cut, utopian view of the world and reduce the price heavily, thus getting the actual device that can activate these 'books' into peoples hands. And don't worry, after 12-months they'll bang on about how awesome the new iPad. 'Sorry, now your current iPad is suddenly out of date'.

I have nothing against interactive software and learning through different mediums, but Apple's insistence on pulling the old sympathy trick is ridiculous.

You still need to pay £395 for the iPad.

Yeah, or you could buy college textbooks for $200 a piece. I could easily see myself using this. Can't believe some of you who think this is a bad idea.

Phil's looking good.

He really is, looks far fitter and isn't pouring with sweat onstage. Thought he delivered a very clear keynote.

Phil's looking good.

I know it's not really a big issue, but these product names really bug me. iBooks Author? Why not just call it Author or something else that's simple and fits in with their other iWork products?

Same problem with iTunes U. It sounds very clumsy, and now that it's an application on its own why is iTunes still part of the name/branding? Why not call it iUniversity or iKnowledge or something?

Will this solve the problem of buying a $180.00 college textbook, using it for 3.5 months and then hearing that the bookstore "can't" buy it back?

.. I sure hope so

apple corp. want educate the children with its version of history, science, religion ect. through these "interactive books". Social Lobotomy.

Did you watch something different than the rest of us? They introduced authoring, publishing and distribution tools today; they did not announce any of their own books. In fact there is no original content outside of tutorials for Apple products available from Apple in iTunes or iBooks. So I do not know where you came to the conclusion that Apple has any particular point of view on history, science or religion they want to put in children's heads.