Apple lands exclusive digital access to enhanced Harry Potter series on iBooks
Enhanced editions of all seven books in the blockbuster "Harry Potter" series, featuring the original text with interactive animations and elaborate artwork, are now available exclusively on the iBooks Store, Apple announced on Thursday.
J.K. Rowling's iconic series also comes to life in unique, new ways with annotations written by the author herself. The enhanced iBooks editions also include exclusive custom covers for each title, and typography including the custom Harry Potter typefaces, as well as new section headers and drop caps
Previously, digital versions of the Potter series were only available through the Pottermore shop. All seven titles are available here:
"I'm thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way," said J.K. Rowling.
The Harry Potter Enhanced Editions are available today in English for $9.99 each in 32 countries. Preorders are available for French, German and Spanish editions, set to launch Nov. 9 in 18 more countries.
"Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. "J.K. Rowling's legendary series is perfect for enjoying on your iPad or iPhone and we're thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store."
Apple's iBooks platform is available on both iOS and Mac. The iBooks Store is in 52 countries, offering titles across dozens of categories, including history books, biographies, picture books, and children's books.
J.K. Rowling's iconic series also comes to life in unique, new ways with annotations written by the author herself. The enhanced iBooks editions also include exclusive custom covers for each title, and typography including the custom Harry Potter typefaces, as well as new section headers and drop caps
Previously, digital versions of the Potter series were only available through the Pottermore shop. All seven titles are available here:
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
"I'm thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way," said J.K. Rowling.
The Harry Potter Enhanced Editions are available today in English for $9.99 each in 32 countries. Preorders are available for French, German and Spanish editions, set to launch Nov. 9 in 18 more countries.
"Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. "J.K. Rowling's legendary series is perfect for enjoying on your iPad or iPhone and we're thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store."
Apple's iBooks platform is available on both iOS and Mac. The iBooks Store is in 52 countries, offering titles across dozens of categories, including history books, biographies, picture books, and children's books.
Comments
I'm not a Harry Potter fan (at all, I'm probably just too old) but I hope this brings more attention to iBooks in general. And not in a government scrutiny type of way.
An Apple ‘exclusive’!? Did Michael Bromwich approve this? Will Judge Cote punish Apple for this blatant anti-trust action. Shouldn’t Apple’s victim, Amazon, be given first rights to these books?
Very cool for Apple and a win for iBooks, which I think doesn't get much exposure.
I'm not a Harry Potter fan (at all, I'm probably just too old) but I hope this brings more attention to iBooks in general. And not in a government scrutiny type of way.
You're never too old for Harry Potter
Fixed that for you.
I wonder if Apple can lever its ability to create highly interactive mainstream ebooks as a way to cut into Amazon's ebook market. Can any of the 10's of millions of simple Kindle readers (Paperwhite, for example) run these animations, present text in multiple fonts, etc? Can the Kindle app do that? I'm asking because it's been years since I've even had the Kindle app installed on any of my iOS devices. It would be interesting to see Apple leverage it's ebook authoring and presentation, typically used for educational textbooks, for more mainstream books and novels like the Harry Potter series. Especially if Amazon can't follow.
You're never too old for Harry Potter
By saying "too old" I'm just trying to be gracious to legitimate Harry Potter fans. If I mention how I really feel those fans get pretty upset.
I was wondering about Kindle, et al, as well. Does anyone else know if the kind of animations and artwork on iBooks are available on other platforms?
I wonder if Apple can lever its ability to create highly interactive mainstream ebooks as a way to cut into Amazon's ebook market. Can any of the 10's of millions of simple Kindle readers (Paperwhite, for example) run these animations, present text in multiple fonts, etc? Can the Kindle app do that? I'm asking because it's been years since I've even had the Kindle app installed on any of my iOS devices. It would be interesting to see Apple leverage it's ebook authoring and presentation, typically used for educational textbooks, for more mainstream books and novels like the Harry Potter series. Especially if Amazon can't follow.
The "Making Of" series of the Star Wars OT were released with interactive content on iBooks and on Kindle.One of the low rated reviews (1 star) for the physical copies of the books on Amazon are complaints about how the Interactive versions on Kindle are piss-poor when compared to the iBooks versions.
So I think Amazon can release these on Kindle, but I'm not sure what keeps them for being as good as the iBooks stuff. Of course, I'm only basing this on the Star Wars books.
Edit: Corrected the beginning since when I checked again on Amazon, there were only 1 or 2 reviews describing how bad the Android versions of the interactive books were.
Trust me, it's inevitable...