Apple announced that it’s expanding the availability of its iBook Textbooks and iTunes U Course Manager to students and teachers throughout much of Asia, Europe and Latin America. iBooks Textbooks for the iPad, which feature interactive animations, flick-through photo galleries and tap-to-play videos, are now available in 51 countries including Japan, Italy and Brazil.

The race for the future of the education market is on, and Apple has increasing competition from device makers and service providers like Samsung and Amazon. Cupertino isn’t slacking, however, and this morning it announced a new expansion of some of its core educational offerings to help it maintain its edge. Apple’s iBooks Textbooks and iTunes U Course Manager products are being launched in brand new markets in Asia, Latin America, Europe and beyond according to a new press release from Apple, bringing the total number of markets that iBooks Textbooks now reaches to 51, and the total for iTunes U’s Course Manager to 70. Some of the new countries which now have access to the platforms include Brazil, Italy, Japan, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia.