Paid iBookstore Content Going Live in New Zealand and 17 Latin American Countries

[MacRumors]

Earlier today, a MacRumors reader noted that paid books had gone live in the iBookstore in New Zealand. While the titles are not yet accessible through the main Books section of the iTunes Store, searches for various others and titles are yielding a number of book results.

Blog do iPhone is also now reporting that paid books are going live in Brazil, and we've confirmed that paid titles are now available in 16 other Latin American countries as well.

Paid iBookstore titles in Brazilian iTunes Store

The full list of new markets we've spotted so far includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela.

Evidence of new markets for paid iBookstore content comes amid rumors of an iBooks 3.0 launch alongside the "iPad mini" at tomorrow's media event. Apple is expected to make education one of the key themes of the introduction, and with the smaller iPad more closely competing with smaller tablets focused on reading, an expansion of iBookstore content seems to be a logical step.

Article Link: Paid iBookstore Content Going Live in New Zealand and 17 Latin American Countries

[miniroll32]

Wow... You guys were late to the party.

[Mike Valmike]

Cool, Wheel of Time books with alternate titles! Can't wait til the last volume is released in a couple of months...

[nick_elt]

always wondered why the bookstore seemed pretty lame. lol.

[charlieegan3]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

Wow... You guys were late to the party.

The party that is paid books...

----------

Originally Posted by nick_elt

always wondered why the bookstore seemed pretty lame. lol.

Because everything used to be free?

[nick_elt]

Originally Posted by charlieegan3

The party that is paid books...

----------



Because everything used to be free?

no because they had really crap books....

[Singin Hobo]

An excellent choice of samples... I'm sold.

[DrJohnnyN]

Less than 24 hours!

[waloshin]

Originally Posted by DrJohnnyN

Less than 24 hours!

For the overpriced ($329) iPad Mini!

[iMacFarlane]

Originally Posted by waloshin

For the overpriced ($329) iPad Mini!

I want one, but yeah. In my opinion, you get an awful lot with $199 and a Kindle Fire HD. Almost twice the price? Similiar feature set? Oh noes.

[Rocketman]

Originally Posted by waloshin

For the overpriced ($329) iPad Mini!

There are always a couple of guys in every thread declaring this or that "overpriced". You have the right to offer an alternate product at a lower price.

Pricing is a well thought out strategy to do more than simply sell a product. It has to account for R&D, capital recovery, dealer margins, and in the case of Apple a front fee for a nearly "free" ecosystem service.

It is clearly not overpriced. It is priced. Some will be able to afford it and others will not. Too bad, so sad. However on the metric of Apple being able to barely keep up with demand at that price, one might even rightly claim it is UNDERPRICED.

Rocketman

All prices drop in real terms when mild deflation is allowed to occur. This government is fighting that as hard as it can.

[DrJohnnyN]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

There are always a couple of guys in every thread declaring this or that "overpriced". You have the right to offer an alternate product at a lower price.

Pricing is a well thought out strategy to do more than simply sell a product. It has to account for R&D, capital recovery, dealer margins, and in the case of Apple a front fee for a nearly "free" ecosystem service.

It is clearly not overpriced. It is priced. Some will be able to afford it and others will not. Too bad, so sad. However on the metric of Apple being able to barely keep up with demand at that price, one might even rightly claim it is UNDERPRICED.

Rocketman

All prices drop in real terms when mild deflation is allowed to occur. This government is fighting that as hard as it can.

Thank you.

[laflores]

I was trying to check the new store for my country (Costa Rica), but all I got is a black page...

[4look4rd]

Why are the titles in Spanish instead of Portuguese?

[Gehrke]

Originally Posted by 4look4rd

Why are the titles in Spanish instead of Portuguese?

Well, I did not try yet to see, but I'm a little bit disappointed seeing that some people still think that we Brazilians speak Spanish instead of Portuguese...
I also do not understand why we do not have the Portuguese layout at the Apple products… but this is for other topic.
Let’s try some books and see what Apple has to offer us.

[4look4rd]

Originally Posted by Gehrke

Well, I did not try yet to see, but I'm a little bit disappointed seeing that some people still think that we Brazilians speak Spanish instead of Portuguese...
I also do not understand why we do not have the Portuguese layout at the Apple products… but this is for other topic.
Let’s try some books and see what Apple has to offer us.

I'm Brazilian too, but I live in the USA. It's pretty shocking that a company as big as Apple would make such a horrible mistake.

[Gehrke]

Originally Posted by 4look4rd

I'm Brazilian too, but I live in the USA. It's pretty shocking that a company as big as Apple would make such a horrible mistake.

Let see... as you notice all titles are in Spanish. Hopefully it is only a misunderstanding, I do have the same opinion, If Apple has "Brazilian Portuguese" in all devices (despite the physical layout, but as I said this is another Topic) why would they tolerate such mistake.

[kiwiboi87]

yay about time,
some decent books to buy

been waiting two years for this

[Mike Valmike]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

However on the metric of Apple being able to barely keep up with demand at that price, one might even rightly claim it is UNDERPRICED.

Fair to say. In fact since this isn't a two-way street, I'm surprised we don't see more up-pricing. In the hobby gaming industry, where I have some business assets, it is entirely normal for stores to up-price hot new items that are on "allocation" (limited supplies in the wholesale chain). Things normalize as supply catches up to demand.

[jdavtz]

Re: book titles in Spanish, well maybe let's just hope that availability is becoming more global and you'll be able to buy the Portuguese, Spanish, English or any other version you'd like of the book.

It's annoying enough seeing books and music in the e.g. iTunes Spain store, but I can't (easily) buy it in the UK.

[apernett]

Originally Posted by 4look4rd

Why are the titles in Spanish instead of Portuguese?

Open your iTunes. Go to the Books section of the iTunes Store. Then at your upper right in the first box that says "Books" click in the link that says "In Portuguese". There you will jump to a huge list of books in portuguese. So far there are more than 2,500 books in portuguese.

Cheers.

[cycomiko]

about freaking time...


Its not on my bookstore yet, but hopefulyl tomorrow morning after hte announcement.

Now. where is my TV content.

[autrefois]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

There are always a couple of guys in every thread declaring this or that "overpriced". You have the right to offer an alternate product at a lower price.

Pricing is a well thought out strategy to do more than simply sell a product. It has to account for R&D, capital recovery, dealer margins, and in the case of Apple a front fee for a nearly "free" ecosystem service.

Apple has not always correctly chosen the price point, however. They dropped the price of the original iPhone two months after its launch and I really don't think that was their original plan...

iPhone launch

I wonder if this in part influenced Apple's decision to launch the original iPad at a price point lower than pretty much everyone was expecting. It will be interesting to see how it plays out with the presumed iPad mini though, partly since that can't really be considered a completely new product category for Apple...

[japanime]

Originally Posted by nick_elt

no because they had really crap books....

You need to take another look, then. The iBookstore has improved significantly since its launch. There are thousands of fantastic books available, and some excellent bargains, too. (I picked up Craig Ferguson's biography for only $3.99 during a recent iBookstore sale.)

In addition, the iBookstore offers some really nice fixed-layout books, such as cookbooks and children's books.

Give the iBookstore a second chance

[bdavidson]

Can someone explain to me "paid iBookstore content". We have been able to buy books from apple for a while. I bought one for myself when iBooks came out. Maybe this is just the non us store?