Notification in iOS 6 beta hints at iBooks for Apple TV

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
An error message displayed in the latest beta of iOS 6 for Apple TV suggests that support for iBooks may be coming to Apple's set-top box.

After downloading an e-book from Apple's iBookstore, an Apple TV tied to the same iTunes account will present users with a notification discovered by AppleInsider. The prompt tells the user that the Apple TV attempted to automatically download the iBooks content, but it could not be accessed because the device does not have the necessary software installed.

Other iOS devices, including the iPhone and iPad, will also receive a similar error message from iTunes. But those devices have access to the App Store and can download the iBooks application for automatic downloads of content, while the Apple TV cannot.

The potential use of iBooks on the Apple TV would be limited, as most users would not likely be interested in reading e-books from afar. In addition, Apple does not yet offer a version of iBooks for Mac, a platform that seems more likely to gain support for Apple's e-book service.

However, iBooks on the Apple TV could be related to textbooks in the classroom, allowing teachers to enhance their lectures by displaying interactive content from digital textbooks on a big-screen TV. Textbooks could hypothetically be written with dual-screen use in mind, allowing a teacher to wirelessly stream content to the Apple TV via AirPlay.

As iOS 6 is still a pre-release beta, also it's possible that the error message is simply a glitch with the software.

Apple TV


Apple has gradually added new applications and features to the Apple TV through software updates, such as Hulu Plus in July, but the $99 streaming device does not have its own App Store and third-party developers cannot write their own applications for it. There have been rumors over the years that the Apple TV would gain access to the iOS App Store, but those suggestions have yet to pan out.

Instead, Apple has opted to bring content from the iPhone and iPad to Apple TV over AirPlay wireless streaming. AirPlay functionality was also enhanced with Mountain Lion, Apple's recently released Mac operating system update.

As for the prospect of digital textbooks on the Apple TV, earlier this year Apple made a strong push into digital textbooks with iBooks 2.0 for iOS. The project was said to be a vision of the company's late co-founder, Steve Jobs.

Textbooks


Apple's e-textbook initiative has found favor with the Obama administration, which outlined a challenge for schools and the industry to move from old media to digital textbooks over the next five years.

In March, Apple and a number of other technology companies took part in a discussion on how to implement digital textbooks in the nation's K-12 public schools. The talks were backed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Education.

One publisher said the interactivity of digital textbooks on the iPad improved students' math scores by 20 percent. That result came out of a yearlong pilot program conducted by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt at Amelia Earheart Middle School in California's Riverside Unified School District.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    yo! Apple.. How about releasing iBooks for Macs before Apple TV? That'd be great.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    wurm5150 wrote: »
    yo! Apple.. How about releasing iBooks for Macs before Apple TV? That'd be great.

    LOL That's what I was going to state. I'll be annoyed if iTunes XI doesn't have it. You can load PDFs in iTunes and they'll open up with Preview, let's get something similar for EPUB format.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wurm5150 View Post



    yo! Apple.. How about releasing iBooks for Macs before Apple TV? That'd be great.


    Was thinking the same thing. iBooks on Apple TV makes no sense at all, makes perfect sense on the Mac.


     


    I think is more of a bug that was discovered where the Apple TV is attempting to sync media and is incorrectly including iBooks.

  • Reply 4 of 23
    irelandireland Posts: 17,800member
    This was accidental. iBooks will never be released for Apple TV.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    ireland wrote: »
    This was accidental. iBooks will never be released for Apple TV.

    So the error message that shows the AppleTV UI and the message ending with "on this device" is accidental?
  • Reply 6 of 23


    Where this could work is Children's books, dragging kids away from the TV to read is getting harder, I think it could work bridging the gap. Also from an education point of view, but I think have air play from an iDevice works just as well.

  • Reply 7 of 23


    To me, there is a bug in the "automatic downloading/caching of recently purchased media" on the Apple TV that is not limited to music and video.


     


    For "classroom sharing", AirPlay/AirMirroring is already available.

  • Reply 8 of 23


    This will put an AppleTV box in every classroom.


     


    Also, as others have already stated, I'd LOVE to have iBooks on my laptop.  However, I can imagine they might hold off until retina displays are ubiquitous.

  • Reply 9 of 23
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    So the error message that shows the AppleTV UI and the message ending with "on this device" is accidental?


    Very possibly. It is a generic message. Probably the same message you'd get on any iDevice that didn't have iBooks installed.

  • Reply 10 of 23
    irelandireland Posts: 17,800member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by brutus009 View Post


    This will put an AppleTV box in every classroom.



    It's clearly an error, lol.

  • Reply 11 of 23

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wurm5150 View Post



    yo! Apple.. How about releasing iBooks for Macs before Apple TV? That'd be great.




    Hear hear.


     


    It would be strange to be reading books on a TV before one can do so on a Mac.

  • Reply 12 of 23


    How cool, now I can read all my books on my new LG 84" Flat Screen!


     


    /s

  • Reply 13 of 23
    Screw books. Epecially when AirPlay already works.

    What about iTunes Extra. Those should be working on the TV, should have been years ago.

    If its the studios, get the heads out of their butts. Same with rent HD, sell SD and their other crap
  • Reply 14 of 23


    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post

    What about iTunes Extra. Those should be working on the TV, should have been years ago.


     


    Do they even work on iDevices yet?

  • Reply 15 of 23
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    LOL That's what I was going to state. I'll be annoyed if iTunes XI doesn't have it. You can load PDFs in iTunes and they'll open up with Preview, let's get something similar for EPUB format.


    I think this a fantastic idea except it will also support the new iBooks Author format. This could be really beneficial on a large TV screen in a classroom.

  • Reply 16 of 23
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member


    Now there’s a solution to eyestrain!

  • Reply 17 of 23


    Not to go off topic, but I wrote how to use Automator to quickly create PDFs of items using the name of the folder they're in the other day. It's a good way to have iTunes archive your documents/photos into books for viewing in Preview (Mac) or iBooks (iOS).


    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4253850?tstart=30

  • Reply 18 of 23
    Depends on how messages are built for a given app. The device name may be plugged into an area designed as generic with text substitution.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    antkm1antkm1 Posts: 1,441member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tulkas View Post


    Was thinking the same thing. iBooks on Apple TV makes no sense at all, makes perfect sense on the Mac.


     


    I think is more of a bug that was discovered where the Apple TV is attempting to sync media and is incorrectly including iBooks.



    oh it makes perfect sense for the education market.


    Yet another way to wirelessly view information on a bigger screen from your mobile device to an apple tv.


     


    Kids can share their reports or a teacher can show books up on a screen for reference.  Especially in Math and Science divisions.


     


    I too am annoyed you can't read EBooks through the iTunes App as well though.

  • Reply 20 of 23

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tulkas View Post


    Was thinking the same thing. iBooks on Apple TV makes no sense at all, makes perfect sense on the Mac.



    What are you talking about?


    AppleTV + Projector + Classroom = Win


     


    What more could a teacher want than to project an interactive text book in a classroom?

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