Apple brings iBooks Textbooks to India; iTunes U Course Manager now in 70 countries

Apple has announced that iBooks Textbooks and iTunes U Course Manager are expanding into new markets across Asia, Latin America, Europe and elsewhere around the world.

iBooks Textbooks bring multi-touch textbooks with dynamic, current and interactive content to teachers and students in 51 countries now including India, Brazil, Italy and Japan; and iTunes U Course Manager, available in 70 countries now including Russia, Thailand and Malaysia, allows educators to create and distribute courses for their own classrooms, or share them publicly, on the iTunes U app.

"The incredible content and tools available for iPad provide teachers with new ways to customise learning unlike ever before," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "We can't wait to see how teachers in even more countries will create their new lesson plans with interactive textbooks, apps and rich digital content."

iBooks Textbooks offer iPad users fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, rotating 3D diagrams, flick-through photo galleries and tap-to-play videos. iBooks Textbooks can be updated as events unfold. Apple says nearly 25,000 educational titles are available as iBooks Textbooks, including content from publishers like Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Hodder Education.

"Oxford University Press is using iBooks Author for Headway, Oxford's all-time best-selling English language series, to create engaging iBooks Textbooks for iPad," said Peter Marshall, Managing Director, ELT Division at Oxford University Press. "In releasing 13 new iBooks Textbooks, including 'Headway Pre-Intermediate,' the best-selling level in the series, we are enriching the language learning experience for students around the world."

With iTunes U Course Manager educators can share their knowledge and resources directly with their class or to a global audience on iTunes U. This free iOS app gives learners access to an online catalogue of free educational content from top schools, leading universities and prominent institutions. iTunes U Course manager also gives teachers the ability to integrate their own documents as part of course curriculum, as well as content from the Internet, iBooks, iTunes U collections, or iOS apps.

Apple's website offers more details on iBooks textbooks and iTunes U Course Manager.