Apple to revolutionise textbook industry?

education, at its special media event, on Thursday, 19 January, Ars Technica reports.

While speculation has so far centred on digital textbooks, sources close to the matter have confirmed to Ars that Apple will announce tools to help create interactive e-books - the "GarageBand for e-books", so to speak - and expand its current platform to distribute them to iPhone and iPad users.

Reportedly, the event will focus on a new type of digital textbook providing a greater degree of interactivity than has been offered in the past, TUAW says.

The iPad is, of course, the perfect medium for consumption of such content, and the iTunes Store is a ready-made outlet for delivering that content. Apple has already provided all the tools for digital textbooks to get into the hands of teachers and students, with one exception: an easy way to create that digital content in the first place.

Tools for creating e-books from scratch or converting standard books into digital versions have traditionally been confusing to use, delivered inconsistent results, and have not played well with anything more than basic multimedia integration.

Reports have indicated that the initiative will be related to iBooks aimed at schools, with a possible association with iTunes U, which has been making lectures, lessons and other educational content available online, Emirates 24/7 writes.