Roger Fingas
Over the weekend, Apple quietly debuted an official Instagram account for the iBooks Store, promoting various new releases including the highly-anticipated stage script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The account includes a mix of still images, looping videos, and pulled quotes. Apart from the new Harry Potter book, out on Sunday, Apple has also done posts for titles like Emma Cline's The Girls and Ben Winters' Underground Airlines.
Notably, none of the posts link directly to the iBooks Store. Instead they include hashtags and factoids, for instance pointing out that July 31 is Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's 51st birthday.
Initially launched with high publicity alongside the iPad in 2010, iBooks has since taken more of a backseat to the App Store and more recently Apple Music in terms of marketing. The store has had a tough time competing against Amazon, which had a significant lead on Apple and offers its e-books across more platforms. Apple was accused of price fixing in its attempts to beat Amazon.
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6 Comments
From what I see from those inside the industry, iBooks sales figures suck (so does Nook and Kobo). This isn't going to turn it around either.
I still can not understand how the Justice Dept handed Amazon a monopoly with their lawsuit against Apple. Not only does Amazon undercut all other book sellers, but they carry a vastly wider selection. Try as I might in many instances I am unable to purchase a top rated book from iBooks because Apple doesn't even carry it. Oh and I never received any settlement check in that lawsuit...
Hey, Apple. How about launching a version of iBooks that 1. DOESN’T HIDE THE FOLDER WHERE BOOKS ARE LOCALLY STORED, 2. DOESN’T FORCE YOU TO USE ICLOUD SYNCING FOR BOOKS, and 3. DOESN’T FUCKING DELETE MY ENTIRE LIBRARY AND THEN ALSO NOT FUCKING BACK IT UP WITH TIME MACHINE BECAUSE IT EXPECTS CLOUD SYNCING. A hundred or so books missing and you can’t e-mail or otherwise move files from iOS’ iBooks to restore them. This is beyond unacceptable.
Oh, and when you get around to not totally fucking up your ebook system, could you maybe restore the ability to EDIT. THE. METADATA. like we could in iTunes? I’d love to be able to put my own cover art on my books again. Thanks, you’re a real peach.