Michal Marek For interesting numbers and insights at the conference Digital Book World Conference shared Keith Moerer, head of Apple's iBooks division. Among other things, the man boasted that iBooks has gained about a million new customers every week since the release of iOS 8. This is mainly due to the fact that in the latest version of iOS, Apple supplies the iBooks application pre-installed in the system.
Apple's decision to ship iOS 8 with iBooks and Podcasts pre-installed was quite controversial. Many users will not use these two applications, but they are not authorized to delete them. So they get in the way on the desktop and in addition they also take up space in the phone's memory.
However, the presence of iBooks and Podcasts directly in iOS also has advantages, albeit more so for Apple itself than for customers. Many less knowledgeable users were previously unaware of the existence of these applications. One had to open the App Store, specifically find iBooks or Podcasts and download them to the phone. Now the user comes across these two applications willy-nilly and often also opens and at least roughly examines them. So there is a much greater chance that they will come across interesting content and buy it.
In the case of iBooks, Apple also gained an advantage over the competition. A pre-installed app is always a much better starting point than third-party alternatives that have to be installed from the store. In addition, there is a lot of competition among e-books. Amazon has its Kindle reader in the App Store, Google has its Google Play Books, and in many countries local alternatives are relatively successful (e.g. Wooky in our country).
According to Moerer, a recent innovation has also contributed to the popularity of iBooks Family sharing associated with iOS 8. This enables the family to share purchased content – including books. If any family member buys a book, others can also download and read it on their devices at no additional cost. In this respect, electronic books have come close to paper ones, and there is no need to have multiple "copies" of the same book in the family.
The success of iBooks was certainly helped by the application for Mac, which has been a fixed part of Apple's computer operating system since OS X Mavericks. According to Moerer, many more people now also read books on their phones, which Apple achieved mainly by releasing iPhones with a larger screen size. With its dimensions, the iPhone 6 Plus is close to a smaller tablet and is therefore already a fairly decent reader.
At the conference, Moerer highlighted Apple's commitment to working with creative professionals, including writers, and emphasized that independent publishing is one of the biggest successes of the iBooks platform. Apple is also pleased with the growing sales of books in foreign languages, with literature written in Spanish especially enjoying a big boom in the United States. However, the growing popularity of iBooks in Japan is also important.
Among other things, competing platforms in the field of e-book sales were discussed at the conference. Moerer pointed out that Apple varies significantly in promoting books within its store. There is no paid promotion in the iBookstore, so every writer or publisher has an equal chance to succeed with their book. This is what the iBookstore (as well as all other stores within iTunes) is built on.
It's definitely positive for Apple that it's doing well in e-book sales, especially at a time when other digital media sold by Apple are relatively in decline. The sale of music is not doing so well, especially thanks to streaming services such as Spotify, Rdio or Beats Music, in which the user gets access to a gigantic music library and its unlimited listening for a small monthly fee. The distribution of films and series has also changed considerably in recent years. An example would be Netflix, which is very popular in the USA, which according to rumors could also arrive here this year, or HBO GO.
However, e-book delivery is certainly not a fairy tale or a problem-free activity for Apple. The company from Cupertino was the year before last found guilty of manipulating book prices and fined $450 million. As part of the sentence, Apple also had to submit to mandatory supervision. Now, however appeals and has a chance of overturning the verdict. More about the case <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1932/8043/files/200721_ODSTOUPENI_BEZ_UDANI_DUVODU__EN.pdf?v=1595428404" data-gt-href-en="https://en.notsofunnyany.com/">here</a>.
Thanks for the useful article. Jen – wooky as a successful local alternative?? Come on :)