Apple to Launch 'Garageband for e-books' on Thursday? [Updated]
Apple's education-focused media event is scheduled for this Thursday, and more details seem to be leaking out. Earlier this evening, the Wall Street Journal reported that McGraw-Hill has been working with Apple on this project since last June. Now, ArsTechnica claims that one of the key components of Thursday's announcement is a new publishing tool for eBooks.
The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.
Our sources say Apple will announce such a tool on Thursday.
Apple is said to be announcing support for the ePub 3 standard as well, and hopes to open the door for publishers to easily create interactive e-books. Steve Jobs is said to have been intimately involved with the project for several years.
Apple's media event is being held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City on Thursday, January 19. It is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM Eastern / 7:00 AM Pacific, and Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue has been reported to be a key figure in the presentation.
Update: Fortune claims that the report by Ars Technica, specifically including information from Inkling CEO Matt MacInnis, was "seriously overhyped". In particular, Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt takes exception to the claims that Apple will release a "GarageBand for e-books" to enable simple digital textbook creation, instead claiming that the reference was to a sample app that will be demoed by Apple as an example of what can be done on the platform.
MacInnis also mentioned GarageBand in our interview. But what he was describing was a sample iPad textbook, produced in-house and packed with pedological bells and whistles, that would serve as a reference design for textbook publishers, much in the way GarageBand for the iPad showed iOS developers what the new platform could do.
MacInnis does expect Apple to unveil new tools for creating iPad textbooks, along with a new content repository to make e-textbooks easily available to teachers. But the tools are not a "GarageBand for e-books." And according to MacInnis, they're designed to support the textbook industry, not to do an end-run around it.
Popular Stories
Apple is not expected to release a standard iPhone 18 model this year, according to a growing number of reports that suggest the company is planning a significant change to its long-standing annual iPhone launch cycle.
Despite the immense success of the iPhone 17 in 2025, the iPhone 18 is not expected to arrive until the spring of 2027, leaving the iPhone 17 in the lineup as the latest...
Language learning app Duolingo has apparently been using the iPhone's Live Activity feature to display ads on the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island, which violates Apple's design guidelines.
According to multiple reports on Reddit, the Duolingo app has been displaying an ad for a "Super offer," which is Duolingo's paid subscription option.
Apple's guidelines for Live Activity state that...
Apple is planning to release a low-cost MacBook in 2026, which will apparently compete with more affordable Chromebooks and Windows PCs. Apple's most affordable Mac right now is the $999 MacBook Air, and the upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to be cheaper. Here's what we know about the low-cost MacBook so far.
Size
Rumors suggest the low-cost MacBook will have a display that's around 13 ...
Govee today introduced three new HomeKit-compatible lighting products, including the Govee Floor Lamp 3, the Govee Ceiling Light Ultra, and the Govee Sky Ceiling Light.
The Govee Floor Lamp 3 is the successor to the Floor Lamp 2, and it offers Matter integration with the option to connect to HomeKit. The Floor Lamp 3 offers an upgraded LuminBlend+ lighting system that can reproduce 281...
Now that the calendar has flipped over into January, steep discounts on popular Apple products have become more rare after the holidays. However, if you didn't get a new pair of AirPods recently and are looking for a model on sale, Amazon does have a few solid second-best prices this week.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a...
Belkin today announced a range of new charging and connectivity accessories at CES 2026, expanding its portfolio of products aimed at Apple device users.
UltraCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Magnetic Ring
The lineup includes new Qi2 and Qi2.2 wireless chargers, magnetic power banks, a high-capacity laptop battery, and USB-C productivity accessories, with an emphasis on higher charging...
With the release of iPadOS 26.2 and macOS Tahoe 26.2, Apple has improved the Wi-Fi speeds for select Macs and iPads that support Wi-Fi 6E. Updated Wi-Fi connectivity specifications are listed in Apple's platform deployment guide.
The M4 iPad Pro models, M3 iPad Air models, A17 Pro iPad mini, M2 to M5 MacBook Pro models, M2, M3, and M4 MacBook Air models, and other Wi-Fi 6E Macs and iPads now ...
Apple plans to introduce a 12.9-inch MacBook in spring 2026, according to TrendForce.
In a press release this week, the Taiwanese research firm said this MacBook will be aimed at the entry-level to mid-range market, with "competitive pricing."
TrendForce did not share any further details about this MacBook, but the information that it shared lines up with several rumors about a more...
