US technology giant Apple has announced ambitious plans that will see digital textbooks become a more common feature in classrooms around the world, people seeking teaching jobs may wish to know.

At a ceremony in New York, the firm revealed a range of new education resources, claiming they will "reinvent the textbook".

Some of the books are already available to download and Apple said that a new range of resources will be produced over the next few months.

But according to Allen Weiner, research vice-president for Gartner, Apple has a fight on its hands against other existing competitors to make the product successful.

"They're competing with companies like Adobe head on - which is currently the product most people use to create books and magazines," he remarked.

"Adobe has learned, particularly in the last six months or so, that there's a need for cross-platform publishing."

Former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs often argued that technology could help to revolutionise the US education system.