iBooks could arrive on Mac for first time

Apple could announce Pages '12, an iBooks 2.0, and textbooks rentals at this morning's education event in New York City, claims ZDNet's Jason O'Grady in a Twitter post. The writer cites only a "little birdie" for the information but also mentions that iBooks 2.0 could include a version for Lion, and that all three products will be announced by Roger Rosner, Apple's VP in charge of iWork.

The assertion that Rosner will handle the announcement may conflict with rumors that the event will be hosted by senior Internet software VP Eddy Cue. Cue and Rosner could split event responsibilities however, much in the way that past Apple keynotes have divided time between people like CEO Tim Cook, worldwide marketing VP Phil Schiller and iOS VP Scott Forstall.

In a piece of speculation published around the same time as the Twitter post, O'Grady notes that the iWork suite hasn't received a major update in years, but that even the '09 version of Pages supports publishing ePub files. Pages '12 could, theoretically, support the textbook publishing recent reports have described. Apple textbook rentals would match an effort launched by Amazon in July, and a version of iBooks for the Mac would increase the usefulness of both textbooks and the iBookstore in general.

By Electronista Staff