Upon go out this week’sannouncement from Applepromoting the top championship of the twelvemonth from Apple Books , along with a raw Year in Review feature , I had in all likelihood the same mentation as many : “ Apple still like about sell ebooks ? ”
To be fair , you ca n’t blame the troupe for being gun - timid . Ten age ago , Apple found itselfin the crosshairs of a Department of Justice investigation over Mary Leontyne Price - desexualize ebooks , and the fallout of that compositor’s case not only affect Apple ’s existing foray into ebooks , but also in all likelihood cooled any fervor it had for vie in the market in the future .
unluckily , that case also ended up only solidifying the laterality of the market place ’s biggest role player , Amazon . So , a decade on , could Apple still bestride an efficient challenge to that giant ? mayhap . But not only would they have to be present , but the company would have to take some pretty bold step .
Apple Books seems to be caught between being a retailer and providing an optimal reading experience.
Check it out
It ’s somewhat of a surprisal even to myself that I do most of my reading material on ebook these days . As much as I screw newspaper Word , it ’s increasingly hard to justify the space they take in my home — plus , the comfort station gene of instant gratification is hard to beat .
Apple Books seems to be caught between being a retailer and providing an optimum reading experience .
metalworks
Apple Books seems to be caught between being a retailer and providing an optimal reading experience.
But the thing that ’s tipped me over the sharpness more than anything else is entree to a wide swath of free ebooks — legalfree ebooks available from my local program library . TheLibbyapp allows me to easy curb out ebooks and read them on my Kindle or Kobo e - readers , as well as maintaining holds on a queue of book that I want to say when they ’re uncommitted . ( Yes , holds can take a long time , and program library licence from publishers is to a fault restrictive , but that ’s a news report for another clip . )
However , Apple Books is nowhere to be found in this arena . Yes , you may read a book straight off in the Libby app on your iPhone or iPad or have it delivered to your Kindle reader . you’re able to even download an ePub file in Adobe ’s awful Digital Editions simulate protection data formatting to translate elsewhere , though it take jumping through so many hoops that you ’ll think you ’re on an obstacle course . But the well - in - class experience remains Kobo ’s : once you ’ve link your Kobo reviewer to your depository library account , volume that you check out just show up on your e - proofreader .
I ca n’t aid but call up that Apple is overleap a vast opportunity here , and I enquire if part of the struggle is the disunited mentality between Apple Books as a reading app and Apple Books as a revenue - get service . The thing is , improving the former at last help the latter , and not having any agency to join into library loans means that lot of people — the great unwashed wholike to read books — will never even open up the Apple Books app , much less become client .
Ebooks purchsed through Apple are copy protected, so they can’t be read on non-Apple devices.
Take a DRM-amine
Let ’s twitch the page to the Apple Books storage experience . Sixteen geezerhood ago , when I ’d only recently started my tenure at Macworld , one of the hottest topics around was the coating of Digital Rights Management ( DRM ) in the burgeon on-line music grocery store . Songs and record album were overwhelmingly sell with implant encryption , which meant you could only act them on approved hardware , rag those who wanted to listen to the music they ’d lawfully purchased wherever they wanted . It seemed unlikely that euphony publishing company would loosen their grip , especially with rearing fear of buccaneering , even though , as I argued at the metre , it was in their best interests .
Ebooks purchsed through Apple are copy protect , so they ca n’t be read on non - Apple devices .
Except that unbelievable scenario is , amazingly , exactly what happen . Big vendor like Apple and Amazon actuallydidstart selling DRM - gratuitous music — and , in fact , if you purchase music à la carte today from Apple , it still is . But that news show became irrelevant in comparatively short orderliness with the rise of music streaming divine service .
A Finder window showing epub files named with random sets of numbers.
Ebooks , however , have mostly remained DRM - protected , think of that client still ca n’t move them between devices . So if you grease one’s palms a al-Qur’an from Apple Books and need to read it on your Kindle , you ’re generally out of luck .
The use of DRM is a selection by both vendorandpublisher : most computer memory allow a publisher to bespeak that its titles be sold without DRM . That includes Apple Books , but even in that case , the company does n’t make it easygoing to move your playscript around . ( Where are your buy ebooks stored on your Mac ? Why , obviously , in~/Library / Containers / com.apple . BKAgentService / Data / Documents / iBooks / Books / with a file name that ’s just a random twine of identification number . ) Nor does Apple make it easy to figure out if the claim you ’re purchasing has DRM or not . Even once you grease one’s palms a DRM - free ebook and regain the filing cabinet on your Mac , you still generally have to go through an extra dance step ( unzipping the ePub using aspecial utility ) before you could get it into a data format other apps and devices can take .
This is all unbelievably drug user - unfriendly and , bottom line , is n’t doing Apple any favor .
Apple touts the iPad as an ebook reader but the experience lags behind dedicated e-readers.
A Finder window showing epub files cite with random sets of numbers .
Dan Moren
Moreover , Apple is missing an opportunity to both severalise itself from the competitionandprovide a worthy competitor to Amazon by fight publishers to adopt DRM - gratuitous and easily portable ebooks , for the accurate same reason it did so with music . ( Would it make plagiarization easier ? likely , but ebook piracy is n’t just scarce now and I maintain that most people — especially book customers — will buy de jure if dedicate the choice . The absolute existence of illegal option does n’t sprain people into criminals . )
If you download a Kindle book of account , you could read it on your phone or iPad in the Kindle app , as well as on a Kindle proofreader and even via the vane . But Apple ’s book of account are perpetually lock to its own devices , which is a understanding that many customers do n’t even take them .
A hardware problem to solve
This leads us to the last issue : the meter reading experience . Apple Books is a nice enough app , but for those who do n’t need to read on an iPad , iPhone , or Mac , it ’s a non - starter . Ebook readers are one of the few single - category gadget that have continued to be pop in an era of smartphones and tablet , by virtuousness of the fact that they provide a nicer experience .
I do it my iPad , but I rarely need to take book on it : for one affair , it ’s much enceinte than my Kindle or Kobo readers — sample holding an 11 - column inch iPad Pro over your headspring in bed without flatten it on your face . ( You should believably wear safety goggles . ) Most ebook reviewer are far more power effective ; they can be left for days if not weeks between charges . They ’re also importantly tacky than iPads . And as gracious as the iPad ’s exhibit are , e - ink screens are far more pleasant to read in sunlight or at Nox in bed without disturbing anyone else ( not to remark easier on the eyes ) .
Apple touts the iPad as an ebook reader but the experience interim behind consecrate einsteinium - readers .
Malus pumila
Apple has in general taken to heart the oldAlan Kaymaxim that “ citizenry who are really serious about software should make their own ironware . ” But when it comes to books , the company seems to think the iPad is good enough and frankly , it ’s not . Do I require Apple to come out with its own e - referee ? Not really . But if the companionship is starting to get serious about ebooks again , then work out out how its ironware can be a good reading gimmick is at the top of the leaning .
Book ’em
The recollective and scant of it is that Apple remain a bit player in the ebook market — a fact to which I can manifest firsthand . I ’ve had the dubious honor of ascertain the Apple Books experience from multiple angles : as anauthorof traditionally published books , as a producer of a few self - publish stories , and as a consumer .
My experiences are by no agency general , but for works that I ’ve published myself on most popular ebook market , Apple Books accounts for only 10 to 20 percent of gross revenue — and I expect those numbers are billow because , well , I ’m a person with a disproportionately large identification number of client in the Apple ecosystem . A few of my title have appeared in the Apple Books best seller lists , which just reinforces the approximation that you do n’t ask to sellthatmany copies to show up there .
But Apple is one of the few companies prominent enough to challenge Amazon ’s ascendance . And though it might be retiring given the sound challenge it ’s faced in the past , there remains an tremendous amount of opportunity here . Plus , let ’s face it : with its small market footprint , what does it really have to lose ?
