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iTunes 9.1 now available, brings iPad syncing and iBook support
Hot on the heels of a ginormous OS X update comes this, the freshest version of the music management software that everyone loves to hate. iTunes 9.1 is live and available to download, bringing with it support for iPad syncing (you know, that little tablet that arrives on Saturday?) as well as the ability to "organize and sync books you've downloaded from iBooks on iPad or added to your iTunes library." The new version also gives users the ability to rename, rearrange, or remove Genius Mixes, but we're fairly sure you stopped caring after hearing the first point. It's weighing in at around 97.3MB (give or take a few KB), so fire up Software Update and get it going... if you dare. Update: We're hearing that the new version renames "Applications" to just "Apps" and the Genius Mixes / iPhone / iPod touch sync pages have been retooled. Anything else major? Let us know in comments! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Seton Hill University hands out iPads to students
If there's one thing that universities are good at, it's dreaming up trendy technology initiatives. Apple knows that (as does McGraw-Hill) so it's no surprise that the company's been pushing to get the iPad adopted by schools around the country. And so it begins: Seton Hill University, a school in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, has announced that starting this fall all full-time students will get a slate of their own. We thought that the Kindle as textbook replacement idea was a little whackadoodle, and we don't have much hope in the iPad as a textbook replacement either. But if the school's aim is to get students playing Super Monkey Ball and up-to-date on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, then we might have a winner here.
Project Gutenberg ebooks will be included in the iBookstore for free
Two days ago we told you that Project Gutenberg's ebooks should be compatible with the iPad, and we even showed you some ways to get around any possible restrictions Apple could have imposed on the vast catalog of free ebooks. Well, it looks like those workarounds won't be necessary, because according to appadvice, the entire Project Gutenberg catalog will be offered for free from the iBookstore. Project Gutenberg has a library of over 30,000 books online, with classic titles from all walks of literature. Apple's not only supporting access to this vast library of works, they're officially offering it from within their own store, for free. This is a pretty classy move from Apple, and one that makes the iPad a very attractive purchase for anyone interested in reading the classics without shelling out a whole lot of money for them.
Random House leery of iPad over pricing concerns
We've heard that Apple is still trying to hammer down multimedia content, but print may not be in the bag just yet. Random House is apparently applying some last minute pressure to Apple, since the company says that it's not quite sure about how pricing will work on the iPad. Apple's offer is that it will take its 30% of profit in that 70/30 "agency" split, but Random House is waffling and claiming that they need to think about it before anything gets signed. If you ask me, it sounds like they're just pushing for a little more control while they still can. iBookstore pricing all seems pretty solid, and most of Random House's competitors have already signed on. This means that, if Random House does pass on Apple's deal, not only will they not be selling books, they'll also be left in the lurch when the iPad does take off. Right now, before the iPad's actual earnings become anything but hypothetical, Random House can pose all it wants. However, I'm pretty sure that after April 3rd, Apple will have most of the cards in terms of making content deals on the iPad.
More on iBookstore pricing
App Advice has posted a first-hand look at the iBookstore, complete with some pricing specifics. Alexander Vaughn received a preview of the app (he doesn't explain where or how) and walked away with a screenshot and the following details: Of the 32 books featured as New York Times (NYT) bestsellers, 27 are US$9.99. That includes the top 10 sellers. All of the remaining five are under $13 The highest priced NYT bestseller, Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins, is $12.99 On the Kindle, Poor Little Bitch Girl costs $8.83. But the important thing to note is that Apple has hit the $9.99 price point with these top-sellers. The pricing war that's about to erupt between the Kindle, Nook and iBookstore will be interesting to watch. Apple has offered publishers the same deal given to App Store developers -- name your price and Apple gets 30%. After receiving pressure from its publishers, Amazon altered their arrangement to mimic Apple's. It seems that, by letting publishers name their price, there wouldn't be room for the $9.99 ebook in the iBookstore. According to Alexander's sneak peek, that's not the case. We saw our first hint of iBookstore pricing when a leaked list appeared in February, and again after careful examination of the iPad's first television commercial. With one-third of iPad customers saying they intend to use their devices to read books, newspapers and magazines, the potential is huge. It will fun to watch this story develop.
Report: One-third of iPad buyers will read books, newspapers
comScore recently polled 2,176 iPad customers regarding their plans for the new device. Not surprisingly, one-third of them said that they intend to use it to read books and newspapers. Specifically, 37% of respondents said that they're "likely" to read books on their iPads, and 34% said they intend to use it to read newspapers and magazines. Drilling down further, comScore identified that those who already own Apple products (they call them "iOwners") are more likely to pay for newspaper and magazine digital subscriptions -- a full 52%. Among all the people I've discussed the iPad with, the vast majority intend to use it just as I do -- as a leisure device. I see it being the thing that's left on a coffee table to be picked up in the evening for watching videos, leisure web browsing and reading books and magazines. Today I sit on the couch with my wife while my MacBook Pro singes my legs and takes up too much room. An iPad the size of a magazine will be much more pleasant to manage and pass back-and-forth while we relax together at the end of the day. Once additional apps are released, increasing its functionality, there will be more and more roles for it to fill. Mark my words: It's going to be a huge hit. [Via AppleInsider]
Project Gutenberg books will work on the iPad
If you don't already know about Project Gutenberg, you should. The site has over 30,000 free ebooks, most of them classics whose copyrights have lapsed. The site includes big-name titles from big-name authors, representing everyone from Dante Alighieri to H.G. Wells. The site's free digital ebooks saved me untold hundreds of dollars while I was doing undergrad work for my English degree. 9to5Mac points out that all of those ebooks should be compatible with Apple's forthcoming iBooks app for the iPad. iBooks will be using the ePub format, and Apple itself has said "you can add free ePub titles to iTunes and sync them to the iBooks app on your iPad." ePub is one of many formats available for Project Gutenberg's ebooks; therefore, it stands to reason that those ebooks should all work in the iBooks app. However, even if Project Gutenberg's ebooks don't work in iBooks, whether for technical reasons such as formatting or more sinister reasons such as content providers' demands, it won't matter. Project Gutenberg's ebooks are already available on the iPhone and iPod touch through multiple channels -- the Stanza app, and through Project Gutenberg's own site via MobileSafari -- and the iPad will be able to access Project Gutenberg's library in the same way. Reading those ebooks will undoubtedly be a better experience on the iPad's larger screen, whether it's through iBooks, Stanza, Safari, or some other means. Apple isn't advertising the iPad as coming with 30,000 free books, but thanks to Project Gutenberg, without spending a penny more than the cost of the iPad itself, you'll be able to carry an entire library of classics around in a device that weighs less than most hardcover novels. [Via Cult of Mac]
WSJ: Hundreds of thousands of iPads sold, Apple scrambling for content deals
The Wall Street Journal has written that Apple is scrambling to get everything ready for the iPad's release on April 3rd -- not only has it already "sold hundreds of thousands of the device, [according to] people familiar with the matter," but Apple is also working hard to try and "nail down" several big content deals with television companies, having put their original drive for print media on hold for the moment. Not really news in and of itself, as almost everyone expects content to be a big part of the iPad's revenue, but it is a little surprising to hear that Apple is still fighting to get deals done. The WSJ says that some content owners feel that the iPad is a threat to their current revenue streams -- the same old story that we've always heard about iTunes content delivery. Of course, none of this comes directly from Apple, but they obviously wouldn't confirm if they didn't have all of the deals they wanted squared away before the device's release. The shift from print to multimedia may have something to do with it -- the iPad was originally introduced, along with iBooks, as a reader device, with the additional bonus of being able to play movies. But now that the ad has been premiered on the Oscars and a little more buzz has grown up around the multimedia possibilities, Apple may be more pressured to deliver on release day. We'll have to see -- I doubt that all of those iPad preorders will want to return their device if they can't watch all of their favorite shows on it, but obviously Apple wants to have the biggest library they can at launch.
iPad ad reveals book pricing and NYT button
The iPad television ad that appeared during Sunday night's Oscars ceremony showed off more than the iPad's functionality. It revealed some book pricing, too. Several of the books had prices clearly displayed (you'll get a better look here), ranging from US$8 to $15. For example, Sen. Edward Kennedy's "True Compass: A Memoir" is listed for $14.99, while "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin is priced at $7.99. By contrast, Appleinsider reports, those titles sell for $19.25 and $7.19 on the Kindle, respectively. We reported on a leaked list of likely initial iBookstore titles and prices in late February, but this is the first official indication of pricing from Apple -- for the record, all the prices above match up with the file we saw. It's notable that the list appears to include New York Times bestsellers as a separate category, which aligns with the sharp-eyed observations of reader Alejandro; he noticed the distinctive Times logo in the iBooks app at the bottom of the screen (see image below) at the end of the ad. Based on the leaked list, other titles we might expect to see at launch are "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks for $9.99, "U is for Undertow" by Sue Grafton for $12.99 and "The Wrecker" by Clive Cussler for $12.99. The iBooks application represents Apple's first foray into the ebook market, currently dominated by the Kindle and Nook. The competition is heating up before the iPad even hits stores, as HarperCollins and Macmillan have forced Amazon to re-visit their pricing policies. In January of this year, before the iPad's introduction, Amazon adopted the 70/30 revenue split that the App Store uses. An epic battle is about to erupt which can only mean one thing: Better choices and products for us, the customers!
iBookstore expanding internationally ... eventually
The announcement of the iBookstore wasn't particularly surprising -- analysts had expected such a move from Apple for months. What was somewhat surprising was that as of the initial announcement of the iPad and its tie-in with the iBookstore, there were no announced plans for international versions of Apple's e-book marketplace. Up until today, the only officially announced venue for the iBookstore has been the United States. According to MacRumors, a new job listing has been posted on Apple's website for "Manager, iBooks Asia Pacific & Canada." Part of the managerial position's role includes being "the primary person responsible for building the book business in Asia Pacific and Canada" -- for now, "Asia Pacific" is only loosely defined as "Australia, New Zealand, and other countries." It stands to reason that Apple will eventually want to expand its iBookstore to all markets currently served by the iTunes Store, but as MacRumors notes, no job postings have yet appeared for Europe, Asia, or other regions. Considering how prohibitively expensive paper books are here in New Zealand, I'm greatly looking forward to the launch of the iBookstore. In the US, ebooks generally aren't priced competitively compared to their paper cousins (something I've never been able to comprehend), but in the South Pacific, ebooks are very attractive alternatives to paperbacks, which can cost upwards of NZ$20 each. Once the iBookstore makes it down here, Apple has at least one guaranteed customer -- as long as the iBookstore isn't restricted solely to the iPad, that is. [Via MacRumors]
Condé Nast reveals initial list of iPad magazines
As we move closer to the iPad's release date, more information is becoming available regarding 3rd-party content. Just this week, an internal memo from Condé Nast revealed the list of the first of the magazines that will be initially available for the device. They are: GQ Vanity Fair Wired Glamour The New Yorker Expect GQ to be the first one available, either at or directly after the iPad's launch. Vanity Fair and Wired should be available in June, while launch schedules for Glamour and The New Yorker are unclear. Condé Nast's editorial director, Thomas Wallace, noted that there's an experimental aspect to releasing these publications for the iPad. These titles will be used to test pricing and advertising strategies. It won't be easy, as distribution will be handled via iTunes, and Apple doesn't share reader data. Last week, we saw what may be a list of the books that will be available for purchase at launch, including bestselling fiction, non-fiction and autobiography titles. iBooks is going to be a huge part of the iPad, and at this point we can't wait to get it started.
Leaked file might be the first promo list of iPad books
The authors include Stephen King, Timothy Ferris, Malcolm Gladwell, Dubner & Leavitt, Kennedy, Agassi, Palin and Beck. There's bestselling fiction (The Lovely Bones), fact (A History Of Modern Britain) and autobiography (Wishful Drinking). The prices range from $14.99 (for Too Big To Fail) all the way down to the magic of free (Heat Wave). It's an eclectic list... and it might be the first round of books to be highlighted on the iBooks app in a few weeks. These titles are sampled from a list of ebooks that one of our tipsters turned up; we were then able to confirm that it was sourced from Apple, and it was found with other assets used to populate the iTunes store UI. It's not immediately clear whether the 112 titles listed are truly destined for sale on the upcoming iPad book store; we thought it might be a list of titles used for the device's launch demonstration, but there are books seen in the video that are not on this list, and vice versa. The books list includes the pricing information, the associated audiobook ID (a possibility for cross-media sales), the genre and a brief description of the title; the list appears to include the New York Times bestsellers as a separate category. The list of included publishers is as seen here; notably, the overzealous McGraw-Hill is still not present in the mix. We've asked Apple for comment on this list; what do you think? If this is the promotional list for the iBooks store launch with 100+ core titles -- including a lot of freebies -- is that going to spark your ebook spending appetite? Or would you rather use the presumptive Kindle app for the iPad and keep all your ebook eggs in one basket? Thanks to Ryan for the tip.
HP to undercut iPad price, iPad to undercut Amazon e-books prices, Courier to rule them all?
Today's Apple rumor roundup is brought to you by the word "money." First up is a piece carried by the New York Times citing no less than three people familiar with provisions that would require publishers to discount best seller e-book prices sold on Apple's iPad. In other words, below the $12.99 to $14.99 price dictated by the new agency model -- prices Amazon is being strong-armed into accepting. Apple's prices could be as low as Amazon's previously magical $9.99 price point for some titles just as soon as they hit the New York Times best-seller lists. Discounted hardcover editions could be priced at $12.99 even if they do not hit the best-seller list. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, has a pair of sources saying that HP will be meeting with its US and Taiwanese partners to "tweak prices and features" on its upcoming Slate. The move is meant to capitalize on a recent uptick in tablet interest with hopes of undercutting the $629 price of the similarly spec'd 3G-enabled iPad. Although it was introduced before the iPad, HP deliberatly held back on announcing a ship date or pricing so that it could tweak the Slate accordingly. Also noteworthy is renewed attention given to Microsoft's Courier. The WSJ says that Microsoft continues work on its two-screen Courier tablet at its Alchemy Ventures incubation laboratory in Seattle. However, it's still unclear whether Microsoft will launch the device.
Apple to use Fairplay for iBooks DRM?
FairPlay, you'll remember, is the oft-maligned (yet still much-used) DRM that locks down content on the iTunes Store, and rumor has it that Apple's bringing that code to a whole new media. The LA Times tech blog says that sources in the publishing industry are hearing that Apple will lock down the sales of their content in the iBooks store with FairPlay as well. Of course, it probably would have been wishful thinking for Apple to sell content under an open license, but opponents of FairPlay might be unhappy to hear that it's coming back for iBooks. Of course, we still don't know what kind of implementation they'll use on the iBooks store, but remember that FairPlay limits iTunes content to five different accounts, so if you happen to have more than six people in your house, they may not all be able to have their own books on your iPad. FairPlay also limits content to strictly Apple devices, so (again, depending on implementation) it's a fair guess to say that any books you purchase on the iPad won't be usable on any other device. Which might be just fine for you anyway -- while FairPlay has its share of opponents, it's worked just fine for most users in iTunes. Apple is likely selling their platform to publishers right now, and in order to do that, they've got to guarantee that they can lock down content if necessary. [via Engadget]
Apple said to be using FairPlay DRM for iBookstore
Well, it looks like anyone hoping that books on Apple's iBookstore would be as DRM-free as music is on iTunes may be in for a bit of disappointment, as the Los Angeles Times is now reporting that Apple will be making its own FairPlay digital rights management available to any book publishers that wish to use it. Of course, that shouldn't come as a huge surprise considering that Apple still uses FairPlay for movies and TV shows sold on iTunes -- not to mention apps -- and it even still technically supports it for music as well, although it's pretty safe to assume Apple won't be going back down that road anytime soon. For its part, Apple is unsurprisingly staying mum on the matter, but March is fast approaching, so we should know for sure soon enough.
iPad in the family: What it'll take
When Steve Jobs announced the iPad, I thought it was neat, but I didn't see how it would really fit into my life. What could it do for me that my iPhone or MacBook Pro couldn't? It seemed like that gap Steve Jobs said the iPad filled was targeted at a group of people I didn't belong to. So I asked the TUAW readers if you'd be getting one. Then I began talking to my family about the iPad and discovered some surprising things: the very people I thought would never buy one plan to, and the people I thought would jump at it are holding off. So here's a rundown of four very different people in my family and if/why they will be getting an iPad: Person: My mother. 62. Queen of the Luddites. Computer proficiency: Absolutely none. Will she be getting the iPad? Yep. The 16GB 3G model. Why? My mom has never owned a computer. She doesn't have an internet connection. She couldn't explain to you what Facebook is. And she refers to my iPhone as "that information device."
More eBook trouble for Amazon
Amazon has run into more trouble with its pricing -- after Macmillan and HarperCollins, a third company has pressured the online book retailer to raise prices on their Kindle eBooks. This time it's the Hachette Book Group, and their CEO in an internal memo says that the company will switch to an "agency model" for eBook sales. What's an agency model? Why, it's the 70%/30% split between platform and content provider currently used in the App Store, and the same model that's planned to be used in iBooks on the iPad. And it's important to note that this is exactly what Jobs said would happen -- that publishers would move away from Amazon when they had another system to go with. What we don't yet know is where prices will end up on the iPad -- Jobs said that prices would be "the same," and it's looking more and more like the $9.99 bestseller price is going to be abandoned for $14.99 or even higher. But that's only because Amazon is fighting shadows with the iPad right now. If they can actually woo some content back to their side when the iPad actually releases, we may see prices get a little more competitive. Until then, the iPad hasn't even come out and it's already shaking up the ebook industry completely.
HarperCollins pressuring Amazon to hike Kindle prices
The iPad is still a few months away from actual release, but it already has publishers scrambling to be in the right place when the revolution comes. First, Amazon gave in to Macmillan's bid to raise prices on their own store, and now HarperCollins is putting the pressure on that same site to raise eBook prices from $9.99 up to $14.99 or higher. Amazon finds itself in between a rock and an iPad -- if they don't give in to publishers' demands, they could find themselves abandoned for an exclusive Apple deal, but if they do raise prices, sales will start dropping even before the iPad appears. Jobs predicted about this much last week in an interview with Walt Mossberg, saying that publishers would run afoul of the Amazon store, and Jobs would be more than happy to pick them up in iBooks. But the real question is: how much will Apple charge? Historically, Jobs has been pretty antagonistic on pricing against content providers, only recently giving in to the first price increase in the history of iTunes. At the Apple event the other week, Jobs said on stage that prices on the Kindle and the iPad for books would be "the same," so while fleeting images of the iPad showed bestsellers at around $10 (which is what Amazon charges), it's possible that Jobs would go with the $14.99 price to woo publishers over to his side. It'll be an interesting battle -- when the iTunes music store first opened, there basically were no strong competitors in terms of other online music retailers. With the iBooks service, Jobs and the iPad are wading into already populated waters. And while Amazon is feeling the heat of the iPad even before it's on store shelves, odds are that they're not going to go down without an eventual fight.
Have we seen the end of the $9.99 eBook?
At the roll out of the iPad, our old friend Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal chatted up Steve, and when asking about the pricing of buying books from the iBookstore, Walt was told that the price would be the same as Amazon. Amazon currently charges $9.99 for most books, which, according to AppleInsider, means that Amazon is losing $4.50 per book to keep its leadership position in the eBook market and keep Kindles selling. This strategy is similar to the loss-leader marketing popularized by Gillette who sold razors at a loss in the hopes of more than making up for it in the sales of blades. Apple proposes prices that would actually be profitable, wanting to position best sellers between $12.99 and $14.99. AppleInsider notes that Apple's plan is a similar one to the App Store where the publisher takes 70% and Apple takes a 30% cut. Under the Amazon plan, including the $4.50 Amazon subsidy, book publishers are currently being paid $14.50 while under Apple's model, the publisher of a bestseller would only make $10.49 per copy. The idea of Amazon subsidizing books is unsustainable in any competitive market and with more than one big razor in town, or at least one showing up soon, the market will inevitably settle on one method or the other. [via AppleInsider and WSJ]
Wil Shipley: Apple "copied me"
When Steve Jobs was introducing the iPad last week, a number of us familiar with Delicious Monster had the same reaction during the iBooks demo: "That looks like Delicious Library." Developer Wil Shipley noticed, too. In an interview with The Washington Post, Shipley complained about the striking similarity. "But the thing about iBooks is, it's a book-reader. So, of course they looked around, found the best interface for displaying books (Delicious Library's shelves), and said: yup, this is what we're doing." He notes that he didn't copyright the idea of showing photo-realistic books on wooden shelves, and that if Apple had called ahead of time they would have revealed a secret on one hand, and admitted that the two apps were similar on the other. "...they can't write someone a check unless they got some value in return. And if they got value, the lawyers would ask, how much was it? How was it determined?" Before you call "coincidence," note that many former Delicious Monsters employees are now at Apple. Of course, you can't say that this was malicious. In fact, Shipley's assertion is probably correct: They felt that Delicious Library's implementation was the best and ran with it. In a way, it's flattering. Something he made has been acknowledged by a huge corporation known for design. Still, it's gotta sting. Shipley again: "But your [designs] aren't really yours. They have lives of their own. So when your designs do change the world, you have to accept it. You have to say, 'Ok, this was such a good idea, other people took it and ran with it. I win.'"
