wraggster
May 27th, 2010, 21:02
Apple's iBooks application for iPad is now available internationally - or at least on the UK App Store, from where we've just downloaded it.
The app lets iPad users browse Apple's catalogue of e-books, download them and then read them on the tablet device.
You'll notice we didn't say 'purchase' there. That's because for now, the iBooks store doesn't have any paid titles here in the UK.
Instead, it's offering a range of classic books, including fiction and non-fiction, as free downloads.
Apple is either still tying up licensing deals with the various book publishers for the UK, or it's still grappling with the implications of whether its agency model deals with publishers are even legal here.
Happily, as in the US, the app comes with one free download: a Winnie the Pooh e-book. Currently riding high in the UK iBooks free books chart are The Three Musketeers, The Art of War, Great Expectations and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
It's possible, of course, that a wodge of paid e-books will be added to the store tonight, in readiness for iPad's official UK launch tomorrow.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37283/Free-e-books-only-for-iPad-iBooks-UK-launch
The app lets iPad users browse Apple's catalogue of e-books, download them and then read them on the tablet device.
You'll notice we didn't say 'purchase' there. That's because for now, the iBooks store doesn't have any paid titles here in the UK.
Instead, it's offering a range of classic books, including fiction and non-fiction, as free downloads.
Apple is either still tying up licensing deals with the various book publishers for the UK, or it's still grappling with the implications of whether its agency model deals with publishers are even legal here.
Happily, as in the US, the app comes with one free download: a Winnie the Pooh e-book. Currently riding high in the UK iBooks free books chart are The Three Musketeers, The Art of War, Great Expectations and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
It's possible, of course, that a wodge of paid e-books will be added to the store tonight, in readiness for iPad's official UK launch tomorrow.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37283/Free-e-books-only-for-iPad-iBooks-UK-launch