Steve Jobs often criticized the American education system. Now the company he founded may change schools in ways he always dreamed of. 

Apple’s new iBooks 2 and iBooks Author software are a challenge for the textbook industry: Start creating better products at more affordable prices.

The company introduced the two new, free apps last week at New York’s Guggenheim museum. It touts iBooks 2 as “gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animation, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more.”

iBooks 2 is optimized for the iPad but will work with other tablets and laptops besides Macs.

With iBooks Author, publishers (eventually educators?) can create e-books using word-processing tools and the wealth of images, video and audio bytes available through iTunes.

From the get-go, Apple will sell all textbooks for $14.99 and less.

Sea change for textbook industry

The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets described the giants of textbook publishing – McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Cengage Learning, the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity – as “partners” in Apple’s new venture.

Don’t bet on it for the long-term.

All of these publishers have no choice but start creating superior content for multi-media textbooks or lose out.

Consider that the iPad has changed classrooms faster than any tech product like it. There are 1.5 million iPads in grade schools after Apple launched it just two years ago. Teachers and parents are especially amazed at how the iPad helps learning-disabled students.

Before he died, Jobs met with textbook publishers. He believed all books should be “digital and interactive, tailored for each student and providing feedback in real time.”

Apple is already providing much of the content for the next wave of textbooks. Don’t be surprised if it dives deeper into the content-provider pool at the expense of its current “partners.”

Do you think Apple’s new products are a game-changer? Let us know about it below.

Tags: digital textbooks, ibooks, ibooks 2, ipad, steve jobs