International iBookstores Begin to Go Live With Free Project Gutenberg Books

[MacRumors]

German site Macerkopf.de [Google translation] and Italian site iPadevice [Google translation] report that Apple's iBookstore has begun to go live in a number of international countries. The news comes after iPad versions of those and other countries' App Stores went live earlier today.

For the time being, international iBookstore offerings appear limited to free Project Gutenberg titles, although content continues to roll out on an almost minute-by-minute basis. Customers will likely be more interested to see Apple's distribution and pricing arrangements for paid titles once those begin appearing in the international iBookstores. The iBookstore was originally announced as a U.S.-only launch, although it quickly became apparent that Apple was planning to extend it to other countries.

With announcements regarding pre-orders in nine new countries earlier this month, Apple revealed that it will also be launching the iBookstore in those countries alongside the May 28th device launches, and the company is apparently already making preparations for having those stores fully up and running at that time.

Article Link: International iBookstores Begin to Go Live With Free Project Gutenberg Books

 

[DJTJ]

i don't read, but cool nonetheless!

 

[Macmaniac411]

The amount of books in every version of the iBookstore needs to increase. Compared to Amazon its a sad number. About time for the international iPad owners though, good for them

 

[andiwm2003]

finally some Kafka...I hope.....

 

[barkomatic]

The free books are better than 90% of the junk recently published.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Kindle books has better selection. Apple FAIL.

 

[Compile 'em all]

I must say iBooks app is really poorly written and incredibly slow. As an exercise, I imported about 300 books in epub format to iBooks (all have cover art too). It now takes a good 10-15 seconds to load the books on the shelves. It doesn't even show an indicator that it is loading anything. Just starring at the empty shelves till it loads. Then scrolling through them is absolutely horrendous. It almost feels like flash on the Mac .

 

[calsci]

nice, maybe prices will come down

 

[Lord Vader]

Kindle books has better selection. Apple FAIL.

You fail at failing.

 

[.Andy]

finally some Kafka...I hope.....

In The Penal Colony is probably my most favorite book ever .


I haven't really been following this much. Is Apple donating to the Gutenberg cause?

 

[iWoz]

Any news on the ibookstore app in the UK appstore yet?

 

[Lordillingworth]

How many free books are in the library so far? I love reading classics, getting 100 free with the sony reader was half the reason i bought one of them back in the day (well 2 years ago)

 

[ParishYoung]

The iBooks App is not yet in the UK AppStore on iPad

The iBooks App (if previously downloaded through a US account) will now let you in, and if you go to the store ONLY the free Gutenburg books are available.

 

[DaBrain]

Kindle books has better selection. Apple FAIL.

They just started! Give them a chance! Amazon has been doing this for at least 3 year or more! A little patience can go a long way. Until then, we still have a lot of choices so life is good!

 

[Henriok]

iPad AppStore just opened here in Sweden too, even though we don't even have a iPad launch date. No iBookstore yet though. We can't buy iWork either.

 

[reactions]

You fail at failing.

U know that's complimenting him

iBooks one of the pillars of iPhone 4.0 lol

way to go apple! Go read ur books!

The trend is not to read - nothing will stop that unfortunately

 

[SBlue1]

The trend is not to read - nothing will stop that unfortunately

sais who? just because you dont read does not mean the rest of the world is not reading.

 

[Gorilla Power]

Why did 7 people rate this as negative ?

 

[Gorilla Power]

Kindle books has better selection. Apple FAIL.

Old troll is old.

 

[reactions]

sais who? just because you dont read does not mean the rest of the world is not reading.

I do read books.

Book sales are down. E-books haven't made up for that loss

print media is dying. Ipad hasn't helped either.

Anything else?

 

[transmaster]

Kindle books has better selection. Apple FAIL.

I take it you don't know the iPad will do Kindle.
go here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_ipad_mkt_lnd?docId=1000490441

Or:

http://itunes.apple.com/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8

This is called Amazon being smart, Apple knows if you build it they will come.

As for The Gutenberg Project It is so cool to have access to books centuries old that might only have a single copy inexistence. The impact such access will have to scholars world wide will be inestimable.

 

[pubwvj]

Mega-Cool. Thank you, Steve Jobs! History has winnowed the chaff out so the classics are the best of their periods. I salute Apple for making the free literature of the ages easily available.

 

[chuckles:)]

I do read books.

Book sales are down. E-books haven't made up for that loss

print media is dying. Ipad hasn't helped either.

Anything else?

NOOOOOO...... I love print. Probably my favourite media. I still think its the best way to relay information and express yourself. What would make the iPad awesome would be if it help the cause of self publishing.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

sais who? just because you dont read does not mean the rest of the world is not reading.

Tell me about it. I've got around 400 hardbound books and counting.

 

[Bodypainter]

I'm surprised they let this happen. doesn't these books destroy the market for ibooks? who will pay 15 US$ for a book when he can get something else to read for free? will the shareholders go broke now?

will steve jobs stutter even more when he realize this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FW-lrMXLBE