New services, iBooks Author and iBooks 2 aim to put iPad at the heart of the $8bn textbook sector.
Apple sent out invites a few days back with a chalk-effect illustration, so everyone was expecting a tilt at the learning space.
They got it in the form of iBooks2, which is the result of a partnership with publishers Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Muffin Harcourt. This trio is collectively responsible for 90 per cent of textbooks sold in the US.
iBooks 2 will be available as a free app on the iPad, starting today, with textbooks priced at $14.99 or less.
But this is more than just a retail move. In addition, Apple is encouraging new authors to get into the space. A free app called iBooks Author lets anyone create an interactive e-book for the iPad in minutes.
This could be very significant, raising the prospect of democratising the production and distribution of school textbooks, just as Garageband and iTunes have done for music.
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At the launch Phil Schiller, Apple's CMO, reflected on the need for learning to evolve with technology, before adding that there are 1.5m iPads in use in education.
"It's hard not to see that the textbook is not always the ideal learning tool," he said. "In general, education is in the dark ages."
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