Apple said to talk with McGraw-Hill for textbooks

Apple Inc is in talks with McGraw- Hill Cos and Hachette Book Group to include educational and trade titles on its tablet computer, according to people familiar with the discussions.

McGraw-Hill’s education unit is discussing getting electronic textbooks and parts of its online learning system onto the tablet, said two people, who declined to be identified because the talks aren’t public. Apple has also talked with Hachette about distributing e-books, according to one person.

Apple’s tablet, which may be introduced next week, is likely to feature content from book, magazine and newspaper publishers, as well as video from entertainment companies, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a research firm in Wayland, Massachusetts.

“Everyone is expecting e-book capabilities and services,” Kay said. “This generation of tablets is all about the consumer and media consumption.”

Mary Skafidas, a spokeswoman for New York-based McGraw-Hill, and Katie Cotton, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, declined to comment. Sophie Cottrell, a spokeswoman for Hachette Book Group, which is owned by Lagardere SCA, also declined to comment.

Apple fell $3.65 to $208.07 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have lost 1.3 percent this year. McGraw-Hill declined 34 cents to $33.34 on the New York Stock Exchange. Lagardere, based in Paris, lost 53 cents to 28.61 euros in Paris trading.

Apple’s interest in educational content underscores the longstanding popularity of the company’s products in schools and universities. For years, Apple has offered discounts for students and teachers.

Publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc also has had discussions with Apple about including Wiley content on Apple devices, said Peter Balis, director of digital content sales at Hoboken, New Jersey-based Wiley.

“We have had ongoing conversations with Apple about their interest in including educational content,” Balis says. “We will continue to support their efforts in whatever iteration it takes next week.” He declined to comment specifically on the tablet.

Apple’s talks with McGraw-Hill cover how the two companies can market textbooks for the tablet and ways their software development teams can collaborate to publish digital textbooks and educational content from Connect, an online service that delivers educational coursework over the Web, on Apple’s latest device, the two people said.

In October, McGraw-Hill announced that it was making 600 titles available as e-books for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. To offer those books, McGraw-Hill formed a partnership with ScrollMotion Inc., a New York-based startup that is working with publishers to develop electronic versions of books.