iBooks is an amazing e-book application by Apple Inc. for their devices such as iPads, iPhones and iPods. Being a person who spends most of her free time to download and read fictions, iBooks is without doubt my favorite app. ^v^
In April 2010, iBooks was introduced by Apple Inc.
Why is iBooks my favorite app??
Apple iBooks obviously is not the first app for downloading and reading books. The features of it even are quite similar to those found in other e-readers. However, iBooks is still my favorite as it is not only an easy-to-use app but the display of the books is also very beautiful and clear.
Downloading or purchasing new books is very easy. Users can find millions of books of all genres in the iBookstore. Once downloaded, they will be displayed in beautiful full-colour covers on a virtual bookshelf under the Library tab.
The fact that when using iBooks, the page turns are lifelike and smooth with the swipe of a finger is what attracts me most to this application because it makes me feel that I am actually holding a real book in my hands. I honestly prefer to read printed books also because of the nice feeling of holding it in my hands. However, traditional paper books are not the smartest option when traveling, and also when studying abroad like in my situation as they are too heavy to carry around. Therefore, iBooks is the best choice which satisfies two utterly important conditions of mine: light to carry around but can contain a huge amount of books at the same time and feels like a real book.
Therefore..... LIKE!!
Educational values
iBooks can be said to be a library which can contain all kinds of books with different purposes, from entertainment to education. iBooks not only provides users with highly entertaining books such as fictions but also can also take on the role of a textbook. With the introduction of iBooks Textbooks, many schools found themselves being attracted to this useful application and some have actually use iPads containing this app for teaching and learning. This is a video showing the educational value of iBooks:
Is iBooks Successful?
While doing research about iBooks sales figure to find out how successful this app actually is, I was surprised to find out that Apple never talks about iBooks sales! In a conference in April, 2011, Apple Inc. discussed the usual topics like the number of iPads, iPods and Macs sold but never mentioned the exact number of iBooks sales. In that conference, Apple did reveal that since iBooks was launched in April 2010 there have been 180 millions download from iBookstore. However, Apple did not offer a dollar amount for its iBooks sales. Below are the Total Apple Profits figures from 2009 to 2012.
This is largely based on the sales figures of its devices such as iPads and iPhones. Since iBooks is a free app that can be downloaded from iTunes, I think it also plays, though not major, a small part in the success of the company.
iBooks vs. --?? @.@
iBookstore put Apple in direct competition with retailing giant Amazon, which eventually introduced e-books to the market with its Kindle e-reader. Although many apps supporting reading e-books have been introduced such as eBook Reader, Kindle and iBooks remain the two dominant and most favoured e-reader apps. One of iBooks’ drawbacks is that it does not allow users to read .prc files. This is one major reason why many people, although prefer iBooks, have to use Kindle sometimes to read those files.
How to improve?
iBooks is an easy-to-use tool for anyone to use for reading e-books. Generally, iBooks have reached to several different consumer groups, including students, teenages, the middle-aged and even the elderly. However, personally I think there should be a separate library for children. The appearance of this section will include more pictures and animation to attract children. The reason for this is that iBooks can also be used by children, or more likely their parents, as their library full of bedtime stories with animated photography and so on. With this upgraded features, everyone from different age groups will have access to this useful app. Students can use it as a learning tool where it contains their textbooks, while it also has entertaining value to children, the middle-aged and the elderly. In other words, iBooks will then modernise everyone’s lives in a better way.
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