The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple’s iWork VP Roger Rosner has been charged to lead Apple's entry into the digital textbook arena.
According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Rosner—Apple's vice president for productivity applications, in charge of its iWork document, spreadsheet and presentation software—is closely involved in developing the new digital-textbook service. Apple last week said it was holding an event in New York City on Thursday for an announcement, which people familiar with the matter have said will be around digital textbooks.
With Apple's education event happening January 19th, we'll soon be able to lay to rest all the rumors surrounding what, exactly will be unveiled. It seems, however, that rather then looking to replace textbooks with their digital counterparts right away, Rosner's team will introduce a new set of tools for publishers to create "iTextbooks". Apple's iTunes U podcast section is a critical if not mainstream success, and their iBooks eBookstore and reader already have a small set of textbook publishers participating. If Apple can expand on that existing base with tools to make the transition easier, they could start to get some momentum going.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
