Roger Fingas
Apple is reportedly recruiting an editorial team for its upcoming iBooks reboot, possibly with the idea of creating an App Store-style "Today" tab.
Evidence for this can be seen in a spate of related LinkedIn job listings, Macotakara said on Thursday. If it follows in the path of the App Store, an iBooks "Today" tab would feature things like author interviews and spotlights on individual books and themes.
In January, AppleInsider and Bloomberg were separately able to confirm plans to launch a new iBooks app, possibly just called "Books." It could have a "Reading Now" section, as well as a dedicated audiobooks tab.
Some earlier iOS 11.3 betas renamed iBooks to "Books," but that was reverted in the fourth beta.
iBooks has lagged well behind Amazon's Kindle sales, in January charting at about 9 percent of the e-book market versus Amazon's 83.3. The latter company has a few advantages, among them a headstart in the industry and a platform-agnostic approach. Whereas Kindle titles can be read on any device with the Kindle app, as well as Amazon's own tablets and e-readers, iBooks content can only ever be read on Apple devices — meaning people lose access to their libraries if they switch platforms.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
20 Comments
Why would people switch right hauuhahuauhahu!!!
I love reading iBooks over Kindle, but the store is weak and hard to shop. In addition, whole sections (looking you COMPUTERS AND INTERNET) seem like they are completely ignored. Seems like a terribly missed opportunity.
I Switched to Kindle long ago. Contents in iBook store is so limited. Even the app itself is not reliable. I kept loosing PDF files everytime I sync.
I have hundreds of ebooks (purchased) at Amazon. I also have Kindle Unlimited.
The best Apple could hope for is to tempt me away from Kindle Unlimited with a better subscription. Basically, Apple would need to offer more for less, and that’s not Apple's business model.
Even if I switched to “Apple Unlimited” I’d continue to purchase all books (outside of Unlimited) though Amazon.
Apple’s “walled garden” iOS only approach really hurts them with books, music, and movies. Until that changes, Apple will remain inferior to Amazon in those areas.
I love the “walled garden” approach for Apps (for security) but it doesn’t work anywhere else. The sooner Apple goes Unlimited elsewhere the better off they’ll be.
iBooks is better in appearance over Kindle and it has an advantage that you can buy books directly in the app. With Kindle you have to buy via the browser or kindle store.
iBooks has 3 main problems. First, it is very hard to find books from favorite authors. Part of discovery is learning about what other books are available especially if they are in a series. Greater sales would be realized if it were easier to find related novels.
Second, books are generally more expensive on iBooks and Amazon have a subscription service as well. Whilst I will buy from iBooks first, some books / authors are on available on Kindle and not iBooks. Is this lack of effort on Apple's part or some exclusivity deal? I get that for new books but not for ones that have been out for years.
The other pet peeve is that books I have bought several years ago have been forgotten in the iBooks app. Apple support said that the author may have dropped off from iBooks and then came back. The lack of order history and the fact that I have sometimes re-bought a novel is very annoying. Support suggests to download the books on my Mac but it is not clear where they are stored or whether older titles I bought have been recovered. I often re-read favorite books and losing them is very frustrating.