{"id":29204,"date":"2020-06-11T15:28:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T19:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=29204"},"modified":"2020-06-11T15:28:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T19:28:46","slug":"discontinuing-ibooks-author-and-itunes-u","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/11\/discontinuing-ibooks-author-and-itunes-u\/","title":{"rendered":"Discontinuing iBooks Author and iTunes U"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bradley Chambers<\/a> (tweet<\/a>):<\/p>\n

iBooks Author will no longer be updated, and iTunes U is being discontinued at the end of 2021. iBooks Author will continue to work, but you’ll need to make preparations<\/a> to transition to Pages in the near future. Much of the functionality from iBooks Author has made its way into Pages over the past few update cycles. This announcement shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as we never saw iBooks Author transition into Apple Books Author or include a native iPad app. Apple will be included an import function in a future version of Pages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I don’t think either one of these announcements is a surprise; these apps have suffered from inattention for years. But Apple’s rocky approach to education needs and lack of clear strategy<\/a> cannot be confidence-inspiring for schools or teachers who need to decide what technology to use in their classrooms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

David Sparks<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

As someone with a lot of experience with iBooks Author and its eBooks, I’ve known this day was coming, and it still makes me just a little sad.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The problem was a failure to iterate. Throughout this process, the iBooks Author app never evolved. Indeed it started to feel creeky and never quite got to the level you’d expect for an app to build books. I’ll always believe there was a significant memory leak (though friends at Apple still argue with me about this). As my books neared completion, every time the app would slow to grind and I’d catch myself saving after changing a single word in fear of crashes.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

With my new platform, there are no caps for Field Guide sizes. […] Also, the move allowed me to take complete ownership of my product. Now, if a customer has a problem, I can usually fix it, rather than giving them an Apple email address and praying. The switch to my own store has also been more lucrative. I no longer have to give 30% of every sale to Apple.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

See also: Juli<\/a> Clover<\/a>, Dan Moren<\/a>, Michael E. Cohen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n