iTunes 11, iBooks update may arrive at iPad mini event

Meet your new classroom textbook
Meet your new classroom textbook

Apple's latest press conference is only a day away, but as per usual, rumors about just what will come out of San Jose, Calif. are flying right up until announcement time.

While the iPad mini is thought to take center stage at Tuesday's event, a new report has iTunes 11 finally launching as well.

Back in September when the iPhone 5 was announced, Apple revealed that a new version of iTunes would arrive in late October. Oct 23 seems about late enough.

iTunes 11 features a revamped UI to simplify the browsing experience, an improved mini player, Facebook integration and much deeper integration with iCloud.

The update will also bid farewell to Ping, Apple's ill-fated musical social networking experiment.

Taking iPad mini to school

Along with iTunes 11, it looks like an update to iBooks 3.0 is set to arrive Tuesday as well.

A few books appeared earlier in the iTunes store listing iBooks 3.0 as a requirement, though the listings have since reverted to asking for iBooks 1.5 or above.

With the iPad mini's more Kindle-like size, an update to iBooks seems a natural fit.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has taken to courting schools about using iPads in the classroom.

The company could indicate an educational bent for the iPad mini Tuesday, with textbooks becoming the new focus for iBooks 3.0.

For those sick of the speculation, Apple's event is less than 24 hours away, at which point the rumor mill should (hopefully) stop churning.

TechRadar will be in attendance with live coverage of the event, so join us here on the site or over on our Twitter.

Via MacNN, Bloomberg