Tag Archives: iBooks

For many kiwis, not having full access to iBooks has been very frustrating. Well the wait is over, just 24 hours before the announcement yesterday, paid iBooks content became available in New Zealand and 17 other countries.

This was perfect timing, just before Apple announced the iPad Mini.

The major selling point of the Mini is its appeal to the e-reader market, so if 18 countries couldn’t purchase from iBooks it probably wouldn’t have gone down so well.
iBooks on iPad and iPhone looks very attractive, there is even a ‘home grown’ section which displays all our local best sellers.I have heard from a handful of people who were getting pretty annoyed that we couldn’t purchase through iBooks, copyright issues is an excuse which has been very popular.

I have noticed that ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is at the top of the ‘paid’ books list, so for those of you who are embarrassed to purchase it in person you can buy it secretly, away from judging eyes.

Apple announced an update to the iBooks app during the announcement yesterday. iBooks 3 has a number of changes, including the ability to scroll continuously through a book rather than flicking across pages. This change moves the eBook even further from the real thing.

There is currently over 1 million books available through iBooks so the next time your kids say “there’s nothing to do” you can reply with “I can think of over a million things you could do on the iPad”.

iBooks 3 also has an increased integration with iCloud, you can pick up where you left off on any of your iOS devices and share your favorite lines via email, Twitter or Facebook.

40 languages are supported by iBooks 3, this would be very handy if your learning a new language or you just feel like mixing it up for a few pages.

iBooks 3 and the iPad Mini are a match made in heaven really, the Mini is obviously targeted towards the e-reader fan and the sleek design and presentation of iBooks makes it irresistible. The question is though, will it be better than the likes of Kindle?

From one Apple fan to another, I hope the wait to purchase books through iBooks hasn’t been too stressful for you. If you’ve been using other eBook stores, you can come back now, its OK …