When we set out to reinvent the book over two years ago, we didn’t know that we’d need to reinvent the printing press, too.

Today, at the Tools of Change for Publishing conference in New York, I was proud to introduce Inkling Habitat, the world’s first scalable publishing environment for building interactive content. I also previewed Inkling for Web, which will make all of Inkling’s great interactive content available in any web browser.

Inkling Habitat gives professional publishers everything they need to create and publish media-rich interactive content for both iPad and the Web, cross platform and at scale.

It harkens back to the 1980s and the desktop publishing revolution when software like Aldus PageMaker empowered people to create content with computers.

Now, as the opportunities presented by digital devices grow ever more exciting, it’s time to leave the printing press, and everything designed around it, behind. Instead, the Inkling platform enables a first-class interactive experience for every digital device publishers want to reach. With Inkling Habitat, publishers big and small can deploy standards-based content that includes guided tours, 3D objects, interactive quizzes, and high definition video, in addition to impeccable text content.

When we launched Inkling in 2010, we set the bar for interactive content on iPad. Now we’re setting the bar for how it’s built across platforms, providing the entire industry with a means to scale interactive publishing into a viable business for the first time. We’re excited about what we’ve done thus far, but it’s only the beginning.

To learn more about Inkling Habitat and register for our Early Adopter Program, check out www.inkling.com/habitat.

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Today, Apple announced a K-12 textbook initiative and a desktop application for creating and publishing content for the iBooks app. Many of you have asked for Inkling’s take on it, and what it means to us, so here are some thoughts.

First, we think this is great for students. After more than a decade of digital textbook mediocrity, Apple is once again helping to move an entire industry forward. Although only a handful of titles were made available today, they’re exposing a broader audience to the possibilities than we could have by ourselves.

Second, we think it’s great for Inkling. Apple’s marketing machine will stimulate demand for better digital learning content across every segment, not just within K-12. That’s a rising tide that floats all boats. It helps people understand that the future of digital learning content isn’t a book on a screen, but an engaging multimedia experience. Finally, the notion of a flat “e-book” is dead.

Third, Inkling is solving for a problem left unresolved in today’s announcements. Although Apple introduced some beautiful content, there are miles to go before this industry scales itself around building products that are “born” digital. To do so will take sophisticated tools and a cross-platform, open infrastructure that has yet to materialize. We’ll have more to share on this topic in the coming months.

In the meantime, Inkling will continue to set the bar for learning content in higher education and beyond. Inkling titles incorporate sophisticated assessment, interactive media, modular content that you can buy by the chapter, and a meaningful social experience that connects students with instructors.

We were flattered to see what looked like many Inkling-inspired ideas on stage today. For our part, we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing: building the world’s greatest software for digital learning content.

It was an exciting start to the year for digital learning technologies—but that’s just the beginning, so stay tuned.

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