Alright: the great latest news regarding Apple is not related to the new iPad but to the fact that Apple is going to try and reinvent education with iBooks 2&iBooks Author. Indeed, yesterday did also present the new iTunes U but let’s focus on the books for the moment.

So, the iBooks 2 is supposed to be a totally new eBooks category – and, if that wasn’t obvious, it refers to books made specially for the iOS tablet. If you have a Mac, then you will be able to get the iBooks Author and create your own iBooks textbook. Now that doesn’t sound too complicated, does it? Money is also an issue. While the iBooks 2 will be a free application to be downloaded from the App Store, the price for the new iBooks will be of maximum of $14.99. Since we are in the middle of problems with piracy, let’s clear things in what concerns the iBooks. Apple has already developed partnerships with several publishers such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson.

What features will the iBooks 2 come with? According to Apple, “gorgeous, fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos, the iBooks 2 app will let students learn about the solar system or the physics of a skyscraper with amazing new interactive textbooks that come to life with just a tap or swipe of the finger.” For the time being, there are only eight books in iBooks 2 but there are more to come on iTunes.

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The iBooks Author will also be a free app, but available for the Mac, coming with basically everything you need to create any textbook: numerous page layouts, support for adding text and images, multitouch widgets for adding interactive photo galleries, movies, keynote presentations and 3D objects. Your book will ultimately by published in the iBooks 2. Smart Apple, isn’t it?