Apple job listing suggests iBook Store coming to New Zealand after all

Coming to a virtual bookshelf near you?

Back at the end of January, it looked as though the iBook Store (as announced at the iPad event just days before) was going to be for the US only. While that may well be the case at launch, three lucky countries appear to be almost certainly getting it at some point: and one of them is New Zealand.

A job listing on Apple’s website is advertising for the position of ‘Manager, iBooks Asia Pacific & Canada’. Based in Toronto or Sydney, the role will involve determining “strategies and priorities for iBooks in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other countries” and “to secure content from U.S., international and local providers”.

I have to say, I’m particularly stoked to hear this news. It’s always exciting to see New Zealand being mentioned as a market worthy of some Apple attention, and it’s even more exciting that it appears to be happening so early on. To our knowledge, there haven’t been any similar listings for any other territories yet, not even for the likes of the UK.

As I said in the original article back in January, New Zealand pays over-the-odds for actual, physical books and competitors in the eBook space such as Amazon have been slow to realise that market potential, so kudos to Apple for seeing it and reacting to it. iBooks, if well priced, could be very successful here. I think this could especially be the case if the store is available on other platforms such as OSX and the iPhone itself rather than just the iPad. The fact that securing local content is part of the role could also mean a boon for New Zealand’s local publishing market.

We’ll be covering all aspects of the iPad in New Zealand as details unfold over the coming months so stay tuned!