Apple adds iBooks application to the iPhone OS

Twice in two days I find myself commenting on the iBookstore which Apple launched on the 3rd April in conjunction with the iPad release. Yesterday in iBookstore: 250,000 eBooks sold during the first day I suggested Apple may sell One Billion ebooks within twelve months of the iBookstore launch. Today I feel a little more optimistic with this assertion as Apple has added weight to this musing with the inclusion of the iBooks reader application in iPhone OS 4.

Ars Technica reported the iBooks application, Apple's ebook reader would be include in the 4th generation of the iPhone OS with comparable functionality to the full size iPad version.

It's essentially a miniature version of iBooks for iPad, replete with the bookshelf and access to the iBookstore.

Quote 1: iBooks for the iPhone and iPod touch, credit Ars Technica.

For me this demonstrates the an integrated agenda for iBooks at Apple Inc. with the inclusion of the application on the iPhone and iPod Touch. I Hope this apparent ibook agenda includes the iBooks reader in the 2010 version of iLife so it is possible for users to read their books on desktop or notebook computers. It would be an egregious oversight to not include a desktop version of the application especially when there appears to be mounting demand for ebooks on the iPad platform now 600,000 books have been distributed through the iBookstore.

So far, Apple has sold 450,000 iPads. Users have purchased over 3.5 million iPad apps and 600,000 e-books from the iBookstore.

Quote 2: 600,000 e-books from the iBookstore, credit Ars Technica.

All being well there is a well planned agenda for ebooks and it does not full short of the mark in the same fashion as the Apple TV which remains a hobby product line to Apple Inc. Apple have the opportunity to corner the market for ebooks without a truly integrated ecosystem I feel Apple would not be able to replicate their success in film, music and television programmes through their iTunes content distribution network.

Links

1. Apple Previews iPhone OS 4
2. Ars Technica: Multitasking (finally), iAd, and more coming in iPhone OS 4.0

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