Apple to discontinue iBooks Author in July, plans the same for iTunes U in 2021
Apple is discontinuing its iBooks Author platform in July and plans to do the same for iTunes U in 2021, the company said Wednesday.

In an email to publishers seen by AppleInsider, Apple said that it will no longer update the iBooks Author platform. As part of its switch to publishing with Pages, Apple also said that it will pull the app from the Mac App Store on July 1.
Apple notes that users with the iBooks Author app will be able to use it on macOS 10.15 and earlier, suggesting it may not be available in a future macOS version. Books previously published using the iBooks Author app will remain available.
A separate support document published today notes that a book import feature that will allow authors to port their projects from iBooks Author to Pages is on the horizon.
The iBooks Author platform, which allowed Mac users to create books for various e-reading applications, was first introduced in 2012.
Apple also said that it would discontinue iTunes U, its aging education-aimed ecosystem, toward the end of 2021.
The iTunes U platform will be available for the 2020 to 2021 school year, but will stop being supported in 2021.
In a support document also published Wednesday, the company touted new apps like Classroom, Schoolwork and the Apple School Manager tool as apt alternatives for teachers and students.
iTunes U was first introduced in 2007 as a way for educators to provide university materials through the broader iTunes platform. That included audio, media and class handouts. Apple began phasing out iTunes U in 2017 and transitioned the feature to the Podcasts app.

In an email to publishers seen by AppleInsider, Apple said that it will no longer update the iBooks Author platform. As part of its switch to publishing with Pages, Apple also said that it will pull the app from the Mac App Store on July 1.
Apple notes that users with the iBooks Author app will be able to use it on macOS 10.15 and earlier, suggesting it may not be available in a future macOS version. Books previously published using the iBooks Author app will remain available.
A separate support document published today notes that a book import feature that will allow authors to port their projects from iBooks Author to Pages is on the horizon.
The iBooks Author platform, which allowed Mac users to create books for various e-reading applications, was first introduced in 2012.
Apple also said that it would discontinue iTunes U, its aging education-aimed ecosystem, toward the end of 2021.
The iTunes U platform will be available for the 2020 to 2021 school year, but will stop being supported in 2021.
In a support document also published Wednesday, the company touted new apps like Classroom, Schoolwork and the Apple School Manager tool as apt alternatives for teachers and students.
iTunes U was first introduced in 2007 as a way for educators to provide university materials through the broader iTunes platform. That included audio, media and class handouts. Apple began phasing out iTunes U in 2017 and transitioned the feature to the Podcasts app.
Comments
https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/
Tell me again how Apple cannot do services and how every single of those services should be shuttered because a couple weren't useful to you? Why is Apple held to some impossible standard where even one less than stellar release means the whole category needs to be shuttered?
They’ve had a long history of abandoning things which don’t interest them (aka “generate revenue”). In fact, why should they? They’re not a charity.
There’s no reason for Apple to spend resources in niche (especially free) products.
Google is similar when you think about it, the main difference is Apple doesn’t tell you about it until launch. It’s like a bunch of Cali dope heads in love with their new toy then get suddenly distracted by the new shiny. At least I hope it is and not some stupid internal factional war by the executives.
edit: also Pages. Another product subject to stagnation. Who on earth uses Pages for publishing?
all Apple has managed to do, despite its major slice of the portable device market, is enshrine kindle as the default book reading app people publish to.
I have to throw the BS flag on claims that Apple doesn't know how to do services. Each of these "failures" had potential and the kernel of a great idea. In these cases, as in most entrepreneurial ventures, these venture never jumped the gap from early adoption with a high level of enthusiasm within a small group to growth and widespread adoption with mass appeal. Failure coupled with learning is how organizations learn. The iPad would never have been possible without the lessons learned from the Newton.
It’s a product that could have been the best, but never got to spread its wings.
What the hell? You just drag and drop ePubs or PDFs onto the Books app and they sync with your iCloud Library across all devices, assuming you have iCloud Library turned on for Books, otherwise you use the settings in iTunes or Finder if in Catalina to sync your books with devices manually. Could not be any easier.
I have no problem adding my own music to my iCloud Music Library either, so not sure what your problem is there either.
The iBooks Author narrative could have been, “We are moving full authoring and publishing capability to Pages. Authors will now have all the capabilities of Pages and book authoring in one convenient and familiar tool.” The change could have been portrayed in a positive manner. But no. 🤦♂️
To suggest Pages is a viable replacement for iBooks Author is equivalent to saying that Apple Photos was a viable replacement for Aperture. Yes for casual users but a nonsense for a professional user.
This day was inevitable, as numerous feature request were ignored, and the software is largely as it was when launched in 2011.
What Apple can’t do is professional software outside audio and video. The potential for iBooks Author and, in turn, for the iPad as an industry-leading multi-media book reader is exciting. But, Apple just doesn’t seem to have a clue how to provide the tools to make that happen.
The only hope is that the very smart, user focused, people at Serif may incorporate the key iBooks Author tools into Affinity Publisher. At least they care about their professional users, and have the wits to develop great software with a tiny fraction of the resources available to Apple.
You'd think by now people wouldn't bother spewing Apple FUD but good to see you still think we're back in 1984 crying how Apple is failing while in the real world where we live Apple just broke 1.5T market capitalization!