Apple releases iBooks 1.1 with PDF support for iPhone, iPad
Soon after iOS 4 was released to iPhone and iPod touch users on Monday, Apple also made its iBooks application for reading and purchasing e-books available for device owners for free via the App Store.
Version 1.1 of iBooks makes the application available on any iPhone or iPod with iOS 4. The update also applies for iPad owners, and brings the ability to open and read PDF documents and add them to the virtual bookshelf.
Other additions to the new version of iBooks, according to Apple:
Take advantage of new ways to bookmark. In addition to highlighting a word or passage, youc an now also add notes or bookmark an entire page with the new page ribbon.
Keep your bookmarks, notes, and your current page wirelessly in sync between iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with the new automatic bookmark syncing feature.
See your book pages in a new font, called Georgia.
Read your books on white or sepia colored pages.
Choose left or fully justified text layout from Settings.
Read pages with greater ease by increasing to even larger font sizes.
Enjoy greater stability and better performance.
Apple first announced that iBooks would come to the iPhone and iPod touch at last week's iPhone 4 event. Previously, it was only available for the iPad.
The Cupertino, Calif., company also revealed that it had sold more than 5 million digital books in just over two months, giving Apple a 22 percent share of the e-book market.
Version 1.1 of iBooks makes the application available on any iPhone or iPod with iOS 4. The update also applies for iPad owners, and brings the ability to open and read PDF documents and add them to the virtual bookshelf.
Other additions to the new version of iBooks, according to Apple:
Take advantage of new ways to bookmark. In addition to highlighting a word or passage, youc an now also add notes or bookmark an entire page with the new page ribbon.
Keep your bookmarks, notes, and your current page wirelessly in sync between iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with the new automatic bookmark syncing feature.
See your book pages in a new font, called Georgia.
Read your books on white or sepia colored pages.
Choose left or fully justified text layout from Settings.
Read pages with greater ease by increasing to even larger font sizes.
Enjoy greater stability and better performance.
Apple first announced that iBooks would come to the iPhone and iPod touch at last week's iPhone 4 event. Previously, it was only available for the iPad.
The Cupertino, Calif., company also revealed that it had sold more than 5 million digital books in just over two months, giving Apple a 22 percent share of the e-book market.
Comments
It would be nic. To have my books all in the same place, but I can't see this happening...
I suppose this is a stupid question, but is there going to be a way to port books over? Supposing I bought some for the Kindle app...
It would be nic. To have my books all in the same place, but I can't see this happening...
It can already be done. I won't detail it here but Kindle books are AZW files that are based on MOBI. You remove the DRM (which you can Google) and then convert to EPUB or PDF. I think EPUB will probably be more functional than PDF.
Anybody else got this problem?
And is there a solution?
(yes I have iOS4 installed)
/Bean
I suppose this is a stupid question, but is there going to be a way to port books over? Supposing I bought some for the Kindle app...
It would be nic. To have my books all in the same place, but I can't see this happening...
There are pearl scripts on the web to do that, but it would be against the licensing agreement and illegal.
My iP3G claims iBooks 1.1 requires iOS3.2. Interestingly, when I backed it up this morning (before the release of iOS4) iTunes told me the most recent version of the software was 3.1.3. Kinda curious what will happen when I plug it in tonight and look for iOS4.
iOS 3.2 is only for the iPad which is why it says the Univseral iBooks app if for version 3.2+.
The last Stanza update was somewhat annoying (among other things, they changed the status bar to white/gray from black, and it's really distracting having it there while reading. you can hide it completely, but I liked having it visible when it was black.) Stanza does still have more options for free books available, though.
I spend a couple hours a day reading on my iPhone, so looking forward to trying out iBooks on it.
iOS 3.2 is only for the iPad which is why it says the Univseral iBooks app if for version 3.2+.
Hmmm...interesting. Meaning you can't buy and install on the iPhone, only on iTunes then synch? Makes sense...I suppose. But when I do a search on the app store app on my 3G, it doesn't find "iBooks." I do see it when I search on Apple Inc.
Btw, has anyone noticed that the new iBooks icon on the iPad sits noticeably higher than other icons on the screen? It's already driving me nuts...
Optical illusion?
Isn't that convenient that B&N Nook AND Amazon Kindle just announced price drops today! They see the writing on the wall. With 2 million iPads sold, not necessarily to eBook fanatics, they shrugged... but now that iBookstore is available to iPod Touch and iPhone owners today... holy cats they reacted quickly. Guess with over 50 million iPhones out there and 100 million iDevices that can access the same iBooks... they got a little bit nervous.
I didn't know that, but it is fantastic news. It annoys me that you pay the same or more for an eBook than you do for paperback.
Competition benefits us all.
Optical illusion?
Upon further inspection, I think you are both right and wrong. The top of the icon appears to be at the same height as the other icons. However the iBooks icon looks to be about 1 pixel short at the bottom. To see this, put it in the dock next the mail app. There is extra space under the iBooks icon that isn't there with the other default apps.
Not a big deal, but annoying nonetheless.
It can already be done. I won't detail it here but Kindle books are AZW files that are based on MOBI. You remove the DRM (which you can Google) and then convert to EPUB or PDF. I think EPUB will probably be more functional than PDF.
The simpler solution: Read on your iPhone/iPad with the free kindle app.
We need a black background to read on like the kindle app.
Meh.
Maybe the screen should be artificially curved and shiny, and also flicker every once in a while?