Although Apple’s education-focused event announcing textbook sales through the iBooks store occurred less than two weeks ago, industry analysts report that more than 350,000 textbooks have been sold in the iBook format. Additionally, as many as 90,000 copies of Apple’s textbook authoring tool have been downloaded.

In an event on January 19, 2012, Apple announced a new initiative to bring textbooks to iOS devices, with an obvious focus on the iPad. Similar to their previous efforts to bring computers into schools, this new announcement seems to be an effort to put iPads into the hands of students across America—and if early sales numbers are any indication, they might succeed, at least in the K-12 education system.

However, many believe the push to digital textbooks in university curriculums will be an uphill battle, with the primary concerns being the differing economic situation of students and the sheer quantity of textbooks used by most colleges. A spokesperson for Barnes and Noble’s college textbook division was quoted as saying, ““In a lecture hall of 250 students, all with different economic concerns, one might have an iPad, another a PC, another a print rental…. We’re moving into a digital world, but we have a long way to go.”

Unlike middle and high schools where school districts increasingly provide technology such as laptops to students to facilitate learning, most colleges expect students to buy their own equipment, which makes standardization difficult. A textbook can’t be offered solely in digital form if some students don’t have access to such a device. Additionally, while K-12 education often uses a fairly limited number of textbooks and other materials, university education demands a wide variety of textbooks, which presents an obvious problem in digitizing every textbook a college student might need.

In any case, Apple’s early sales numbers look promising, and most reviews of the textbooks themselves have been positive. The shift to a digital learning world is coming—it’s just taking longer than we would like.

The hype in the blogosphere regarding the imminent unveiling of the next iPad revision is reaching critical mass. Loyal Apple fans and average tablet consumers alike are eager to hear what will be offered in the new tablet, and when they can get their hands on it. In this article we’ll take a look at just a few of the rumors making their way around the net.

Release Date:

The iPad 3 is expected to make its debut early this year. The most prominent rumor being that we’ll see an announcement from Apple by the end of March. However, some speculate that a more likely date is February 24, which would coincide with the birthday of the late Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs.  Apple are expected to have a press announcement in late January regarding iBooks, publishing, and their ilk, and so information pertaining to new products isn’t expected until February at the earliest.

Additionally, DigiTimes suggests that a second revision, an iPad 4, will be available in October. This rumor, however, has been greeted with a great deal of skepticism.

Specifications

The most notable hardware improvement that just about every rumor seems to agree upon is the inclusion of a high definition retina display similar to those of the 2010 iPhone 4 and the 2011 iPhone 4S. The display is expected to have a resolution of 1536×2048 pixels.

However, many also speculate that the iPad 2 will continue to be sold perhaps as-is, or with minor revisions and adopting the iPad 2S nomenclature used by Apple for its iPhone product line. This lower end iPad 2/iPad 2S is expected to drop in price from $499 for the base, 16GB wifi only model to $299 – $399 for the same model in an effort to compete with lower end, more inexpensive Android tablets available on the market already.

As for the processor, it is widely believe that the iPad 3 will pack the power of a new A6 chip from Apple. The iPad 2 and iPhone 4S carry Apples A5 chip, while the iPhone 4 uses the A4 chip found in the original, 2010 iPad model.

Camera

The iPad 2 is the first iPad model to sport not one, but two cameras. One rear-facing 5 (correction, 0.7)  megapixel camera, and one front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime video chat. Speculation around the net suggests that the next iPad will bump that up a notch and have an 8MP camera similar to that of the iPhone 4S on the back, and a 5MP on the front for FaceTime.

iOS

iOS 5, which made its debut alongside the iPhone 4S last October, is expected to be upgraded to iOS 5.1 before the announcement of a new iPad model. Many iOS 5 users have complained of poorer battery life over iOS 4.3. Apple have acknowledged that some bugs remain in iOS which cause the decrease in battery performance, but as of the latest iOS 5.1 developer builds have not eliminated the problem.

iPad 3 is certainly around the corner and so hype is building fast. As more information becomes available we will be sure to update you all here!

Some sources are alleging that the next generation of Apple’s iPad tablet computer will be unveiled in late March of 2012.

Those same sources believe that the new iPad will sport a long-awaited retina display with a pixel density similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The display will keep its existing 10″ display area, but feature a resolution of 1536×2048, a marked improvement over the existing 1024×768 of the iPad 2 released last March as well as the original iPad iteration of 2010.

The iPad 3 is expected to complement the iPad 2 and not replace it. Some believe the iPad 2 will remain for sale but at a discounted price of somewhere between $299 and $399 for the base model. This, they say, is in an effort to compete with Android tablets such as Amazon’s profitless Kindle Fire. No information has yet come to light regarding the pricing of iPad 3.

Additionally, DigiTimes claims that another revision of the iPad product line will come in October of this year. The quick turnaround, DigiTimes says, will be in an effort to compete with the Windows 8 tablets expected to be available around that time.

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Apple today announced that the Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad™ will be delivered to US customers who’ve pre-ordered on Friday, April 30, and will be available in Apple retail stores the same day starting at 5:00 p.m.

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface.

iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models are just 0.5 inches thick and weigh just 1.6 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and deliver up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.*

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. US Apple retail stores are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

Pricing & Availability

iPad is available in Wi-Fi models in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available on April 30 in the US for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. AT&T is offering breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

iPad will be available at the end of May in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Apple will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders for iPad on May 10.

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Marvel Entertainment is proud to announce the launch of the Marvel Comics App for iPad on the App Store. This landmark app launches with over 500 of Marvel’s greatest comic books, from classic stories to modern tales, featuring Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor and more of the world’s most popular Super Heroes.

The Marvel Comics App brings the world of Marvel to iPad owners with each comic presented at incredibly high resolution possible on iPad’s full color screen, a user-friendly search engine, innovative viewing options and more.

“We’re excited to introduce an unparalleled digital comic experience to our fans with the Marvel Comics App for iPad,” said Dan Buckley, publisher & CEO, Marvel Publishing. “The iPad is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic. This new world of digital comics distribution provides us great opportunities to reach new readers, allow consumers to sample our diverse stories and characters, and we believe it will drive these new fans into the App Store and local comic shops each week to find even more.”

Fans will be granted unrivaled access to Marvel’s rich library of comics, with launch titles ranging from the first appearances of characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men to modern classics like the debut of Red Hulk, Jonathan Hickman’s acclaimed Fantastic Four run, Joss Whedon & John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men and lots more. Every comic available through the Marvel Comics App is optimized for the iPad through painstaking re-coloring and re-digitizing of select content.

Marvel worked with ComiXology to create the perfect app for new readers, offering the option to preview three pages from each available comic before purchasing and a cutting edge recommendation engine for every fan to find a comic they’re sure to love. The app also arms fans with a handy comic shop locator, allowing them to find their local retailer’s address and phone number and then journey even further into the Marvel Universe. To further enhance the mobile reading experience on the iPad, the Marvel Comics App features multiple viewing modes, taking readers panel-by-panel through the comic book in a smooth, action-packed progression using just the swipe of a finger.

The Marvel Comics App for iPad is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Individual comics are priced at just $1.99 each with new content arriving every week.

To commemorate this historic event, Marvel is offering select titles free for a limited time, such as New Avengers #1, which launched a new era for super hero comics; Captain America #1, Invincible Iron Man #1 & Thor #1, the perfect place for new readers to discover the titular heroes; and Super Hero Squad #1, suited for fans of all ages, especially our youngest ones.

The Marvel Comics App is also available for iPhone and iPod touch. For all the details on Marvel’s historic announcement and a closer look at the Marvel Comics App, please visit www.marvel.com/iPad.