Apple saw 350,000 textbook downloads from its iBookstore in 3 days, says analyst

Apple may have recorded more than 350,000 textbook downloads from its iBookstore in the three days following the company’s education event, where it announced its new iBooks 2 platform, new textbook features and other iPad-centric services for students.

The figure is offered by Global Equities Research — as reported by AllThingsD — which monitored downloads on Apple’s iBookstore platform using its proprietary tracking system. The company also notes that Apple saw more than 90,000 downloads of its iBook Author tool via the Mac App Store, over the same three-day period.

The figure is impressive, given the fact that there were only 7 titles available at launch. Apple offered free downloads of E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth, Algebra 1, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geometry and Physics, hosting them in the new Textbook category in the iBookstore.

The company will cover five school years for less than US$15 each, partnering with three leading textbook makers Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Together, the three companies currently provide 90% of the textbooks available to high schoolers, the first age group Apple is targeting.

Other Apple partners include DK Publishing and E.O Wilson, which both launched titles on the iBookstore when the new Textbook category was unveiled.

Global Equities Research estimates that iPad-focused titles will cost 80% less to produce, providing the “recipe for Apple’s success in the textbook industry.”