Apple's iBooks Platform Seeing 1 Million New Users Per Week After iOS 8

[nagromme]

It's funny how people always rag on the various Androids that include crapware apps from either the carrier or the manufacturer that you can't remove...

Apple is no different in this regard, but people somehow forget about this.

People somehow forget the difference: software FROM the phone maker, adding functionality, may be unwanted. But TRUE crapware is when the phone maker takes money from some OTHER company to preinstall THEIR software.

Apple is "no" different? Really? Not at all?

 

[AdonisSMU]

iBook? Thats my most hated app which I dragged into my Apple Junk Folder , next to Newsstand , Gamecenter and Photobooth.

Right after I realized that all my PDFs couldnt be opened by another App, once they got imprisoned in iBooks. I had to eMail them to myself and reopen them in Documents by Readdle... (do that for lots of PDFs and you start hatin')

I use iBooks exclusively. I LOVE IT! The newstand and gamecenter are pointless to me.

 

[leroypants]

People somehow forget the difference: software FROM the phone maker, adding functionality, may be unwanted. But TRUE crapware is when the phone maker takes money from some OTHER company to preinstall THEIR software.

Apple is "no" different? Really? Not at all?

Both are unwanted by the consumer and both make money for the manufacturer. You can try to justify Appl installing bloatware onto the iphones but we both know for a fact that many people do not want it and many people want to delete it, but apple does not give you any choice.

Unfortunately the instead of telling the Iphone how it will be used, the phone tells the user how they are allowed to use it.

 

[Scarpad]

Amazon is still cheaper and the ability to read my Ebook Purchases is just to big to overcome, although I like the Ibooks app

 

[nagromme]

I'm just glad we can put them in folders, I hated not being able to hide Newstand in a folder.

You CAN hide Newsstand in a folder. At first you couldn't (it was itself just like any other folder) but that was changed.

Unfortunately the instead of telling the Iphone how it will be used, the phone tells the user how they are allowed to use it.

What do you mean? I use the Kindle app all the time. I'm SO glad iBooks is now pre-installed because it's a great PDF storage area for Safari etc.--but I read on the Kindle app far more than iBooks, and Apple never tried to stop me.

Don't believe every anti-Apple narrative you hear parroted around.

 

[rwilliams]

I still prefer Kindle. It exists outside of the Apple world, should anyone ever decide to move to Android, Windows, or the Kindle devices themselves.

 

[Kar98]

Actual users who are using it, or iOS users upon whom the app is forced with the forced iOS 8 install? I liked iBooks in its initial forms, but Apple has made it unusable since and that was a big part of why I sold my iPad and iPhone and went with a Lumia 1320 and a Windows 8 tablet.

 

[Tech198]

Naturally, the way to give iBooks the best here, is to make it available everywhere, then the user may be tempted more.

Don't you just like the way how Apple works....

 

[Huracan]

I just don't like the current digital books model. It seems you don't own the book, you just get a license to read it in a limited way. I would become more enthusiastic when books are sold without DRM as songs are done now and then I can have ownership of the book and transfer it to any platform, upgrade it to newer formats, etc.

 

[Kar98]

I'm SO glad iBooks is now pre-installed because it's a great PDF storage area for Safari etc.

Yeah, about that... you can't edit metadata anymore and it creates random file names and folders now. So that PDF file you created now has a random display title, and you won't even be able to find it anymore. So very convenient.

 

[gwangung]

I buy from Amazon.

Read in iBooks.

A little cumbersome in the beginning, but it's my preferred app.

 

[Yojimbo007]

Why didnt they do it from the get go ????

Apple, once in a while makes some real dumb choices !!!
More and more so on the software side lately !
Whats up apple !?
We need an obssessed , maticulouse, topnotch person at the top to bring things back in line Tim !

 

[gavroche]

I'll start buying digital books once Apple stops charging us more for a digital copy than i can pay for the physical copy.

 

[69650]

I buy a lot of eBooks. I've not found a single book cheaper on iBooks than Amazon which is why I quickly ditched iBooks a long time ago.

 

[TMRJIJ]

DON'T DO IT - don't get started on the iBooks App, you'll forever lose control of the books to Apple. Use the Kindle App for Mac, buy only Kindle ebooks (same price, better / more selections) and if you want to switch to an Android phone or tablet, later, your books move with you.

No truer words than those from Hotel California;

'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you just can never leave!'

That Kindle App for Mac hasn't been updated since last year. It doesn't even work on any of my Macs. It is literally the ONLY app in my Launchpad that crashes immediately. How the heck did you get it work?

 

[japanime]

I just don't like the current digital books model. It seems you don't own the book, you just get a license to read it in a limited way. I would become more enthusiastic when books are sold without DRM as songs are done now and then I can have ownership of the book and transfer it to any platform, upgrade it to newer formats, etc.

It depends on the publisher. My company sells all of our ebooks DRM-free. If you buy our ebooks through any of the major retailers (Amazon, Apple, Nook, Kobo), you own the ebooks as far as we're concerned.

 

[Natzoo]

wow nice

 

[AppleScruff1]

1M new users a week? Do we really buy that?

Of course we do. You don't?

 

[redmac]

Yes but around here it's perfectly fine when Apple does something like this, extraordinarily wrong when anyone else does. Did you not read the rules? Laws should exclude Apple when they work against Apple or be changed to support Apple when they don't align with what Apple wants.

For Apple to be treated like Microsoft, it needs to be a monopoly in a market segment. Last time I checked, iPhones didn't have over 90% market share like MS had in the 90s. Is it that complicated to understand?

 

[RedOrchestra]

How the heck did you get it work?

Sorry, I should have said iOS.

 

[redmac]

DON'T DO IT - don't get started on the iBooks App, you'll forever lose control of the books to Apple. Use the Kindle App for Mac, buy only Kindle ebooks (same price, better / more selections) and if you want to switch to an Android phone or tablet, later, your books move with you.

No truer words than those from Hotel California;

'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you just can never leave!'

A few questions...

Why locking yourself into the Amazon ecosystem is any better than locking yourself in Apple ecosystem. Unlike Amazon, Apple treats writers, publishers and its employees with respect. How do you think Amazon is going to treat you once it kills all the competition and becomes an even bigger monopoly?

Also, why would you ever consider moving to Android? Are you insane?

 

[MacAddict1978]

Wow, incredible. This can't make Amazon too happy.

1M new users a week? Do we really buy that?

I am sure Amazon isn't worried a bit.

1M new users? No, don't buy that. Apple counts it when you accidentally hit the icon and open the app. Does everyone remember the same trickery with quoting Apple Maps usage? Doesn't mean you read something or bought anything. They were counting free samples of books as downloads too.

 

[317342]

Although I own books on Kindle, Google Books, and iBooks, I tend to use iBooks the most. The scrolling text feature is addicting.

 

[dumastudetto]

DON'T DO IT - don't get started on the iBooks App, you'll forever lose control of the books to Apple. Use the Kindle App for Mac, buy only Kindle ebooks (same price, better / more selections) and if you want to switch to an Android phone or tablet, later, your books move with you.

iBooks are beautiful with great typography and that makes them infinitely more readable than their Kindle equivalents. I always buy iBooks. I don't care about the so-called lock in. I have no intention of ever buying an Android phone or tablet.

 

[nick42983]

DON'T DO IT - don't get started on the iBooks App, you'll forever lose control of the books to Apple. Use the Kindle App for Mac, buy only Kindle ebooks (same price, better / more selections) and if you want to switch to an Android phone or tablet, later, your books move with you.

No truer words than those from Hotel California;

'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you just can never leave!'

Good info. Other than the vertical scrolling another commenter mentioned, I was curious if there were any advantages to iBooks. I've been using the Kindle app exclusively and have purchased several hundred books, so I don't plan to switch or confuse things by using both apps. Your last point is the strongest. Some people may think they'll never switch from iOS, but who knows what'll happen in a few years and what our options will be like.