Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch

[MacRumors]

During quarterly retail meetings that took place today, Apple announced a new 'iBooks Discovery' initiative that will see Apple Store employees provided with free iBooks beginning next week in order to prepare the retail workers for the launch of OS X Mavericks and iOS 7, reports 9to5Mac.

While an iBooks app has been available on iOS devices since the debut of the original iPad in 2010, OS X Mavericks will mark the first instance of an iBooks app for the Mac.

The Mavericks version of iBooks offers a number of features that will appeal to readers and students alike, including full screen reading capabilities, note taking functionality, and a feature that allows study cards to be automatically created from notes.

With access to free ebooks, Apple Store employees will be able to familiarize themselves with both the iBookstore and the many features that iBooks offers, allowing the employees to answer customer questions and promote the apps and the new operating systems.

Apple has also provided some of its employees with beta access to OS X Mavericks and recently, it sent out a memo asking its retail workers for innovative ideas on how to improve the iPhone, the retail store environment, and sales techniques.

At a retail summit that took place in early July, Tim Cook announced plans to improve the in-store sales of iPhones, which are considered a "gateway product" to other Apple devices. As part of its push for greater sales, Apple has launched a new iPhone Back to School promotion and has plans for an in-store trade-in program for older devices.

The company also plans to heavily market both iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, which are expected to be released to the public this fall.

Article Link: Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

The OS soon I hope. 

 

[demodave]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

While an iBooks app has been available on iOS devices since the debut of the original iPad in 2010, OS X Mavericks will mark the first instance of an iBooks app for the Mac.

Article Link: Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch

Good deal. I've been hoping/waiting for iBooks to be on the Mac since iBooks 2 was released. While I think that the iPad is a little nicer for mere reading, as a study tool, I can see where having the ability to interact with both a book and a real keyboard on the same device would be quite appealing.

 

[sailmac]

Glad to hear this -- have been looking forward to the extra convenience when away from an iOS device.

 

[Santabean2000]

Should be an exciting few months coming up. Especially looking forward to Mavericks and some better multimonitor functionality.

 

[snipper]

iBooks first on iOS en only much later on OS X. That is not a good practise.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

iBooks first on iOS en only much later on OS X. That is not a good practise.

Why not? Reading ebooks is clearly more convenient on an iPad/iPhone than a Mac. In fact, when the iPad was first released, the ebook functionality was touted as an exclusive feature (in order to drive sales).

 

[SC54HI]

Will iBooks on Mavericks allow people to back up their purchases to the desktop the way one can with Amazon, B & N or Kobo ebook purchases?

 

[ka-spot]

I want books? ...aand haswell retina 13" ?

 

[gnasher729]

Will iBooks on Mavericks allow people to back up their purchases to the desktop the way one can with Amazon, B & N or Kobo ebook purchases?

You could _always_ backup your book purchases to your computer. The new thing is you can read them on your computer.

 

[snipper]

Why not? Reading ebooks is clearly more convenient on an iPad/iPhone than a Mac.

Have you ever read for a few hours on an iPhone? I sometimes do, but often have trouble focussing on other objects for a while after that. When reading on a monitor, this is much less a problem.

 

[Quercus Alba]

Can't wait for this.

I have all my textbooks on iBooks on my iPad in PDF format - but if I can get iBooks on my Mac then that just makes taking notes and highlighting actually worthwhile!

 

[macaddict77]

does anyone know if we will be able to download newsstand magazines as well?? i have a subscription to national geographic magazine on the ipad and i think it would be very welcome if i could save my magazines on my imac's harddrive which is quite larger than my ipad's measly 32gb... (i have a lot of games and apps and want free space as well)
if that were the case then that would not just free up space on my ipad but i could also enjoy the magazine on a 27 inch screen

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

About time, but wish it would be available on Mountain Lion too.

 

[longofest]

iBooks are still crap compared to Amazon's offering. I can get Amazon Kindle books on virtually any platform - iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android, or from the web using the cloud player. iBooks are limited to iOS and only just now Mac.

Plus, I can read the kindle books on an eInk display, which is easier on the eyes than LCD of iOS devices for extended reading.

 

[dragje]

Can't wait to get my hands on the new OSX.

 

[Carlanga]

About time, but wish it would be available on Mountain Lion too.

I think iBook will be a universal app or at least that is what would make sense.

 

[Porco]

Too late, went Kindle. Lots of us said so 3 years ago.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

iBooks are still crap compared to Amazon's offering. I can get Amazon Kindle books on virtually any platform - iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android, or from the web using the cloud player. iBooks are limited to iOS and only just now Mac.

Plus, I can read the kindle books on an eInk display, which is easier on the eyes than LCD of iOS devices for extended reading.

iBooks is a better piece of software than any of the Amazon Kindle readers.

eInk is nice, and I like the lightness of an eInk Kindle, and the fact that I can toss it around and not really care if it gets scratched, being a pretty cheap device.

 

[macs4nw]

.....The company also plans to heavily market both iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, which are expected to be released to the public this fall.

Article Link: Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch

Marketing is good and necessary, but if past adoption rates of iOS and OSX are any indication, and the price of Mavericks is similar to Lion and ML, APPLE doesn't need to worry too much about pushing their new software.

 

[6749974]

Related: does anybody know and recommend a good epub/pdf manager app? Think iTunes for eBooks.

Everything I've found sucks or is practically abandoned by the developer.

 

[ValSalva]

During quarterly retail meetings that took place today, Apple announced a new 'iBooks Discovery' initiative that will see Apple Store employees provided with free iBooks beginning next week in order to prepare the retail workers for the launch of OS X Mavericks and iOS 7

The iBooks app is already free and available on iOS. iBooks is not available even on Mavericks DP4. So what exactly is Apple doing for its employees?

Is Apple giving them Mavericks and iOS 7 training eBooks to be read on iBooks? Or is Apple just giving employees credits for free books of any kind so they can just use the iBookstore?

 

[FloatingBones]

iBooks are far more capable than Amazon Books.

iBooks are still crap compared to Amazon's offering. I can get Amazon Kindle books on virtually any platform - iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android, or from the web using the cloud player. iBooks are limited to iOS and only just now Mac.

The iBook format allows for far more than can be displayed in Amazon Books or on eInk displays: videos, 3D renderings, etc.

I think this is a very smart move for Apple. It seemed like something missing for iBooks to not be readable on Macs; this now sounds like a very smart way to purchase e-books.

 

[TennisandMusic]

iBooks is a better piece of software than any of the Amazon Kindle readers.

eInk is nice, and I like the lightness of an eInk Kindle, and the fact that I can toss it around and not really care if it gets scratched, being a pretty cheap device.

Based on what? Hopefully not page flip animations.

Kindle IMO crushes iBooks, because it works absolutely everywhere. Frankly, I can't imagine why anyone at all would use iBooks.

 

[Daws001]

I don't understand why it took this long to make iBooks seamless across Apple's ecosystem. I completely ignored the app because it wasn't multi-platform like Kindle. And why isn't Newsstand on Mavericks? Seems like a no-brainer.