Slashdot Mirror


Apple's Getting Back Into the E-Books Fight Against Amazon (bloomberg.com)

Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg: Apple is ready to take on Amazon.com in the digital book market again, years after regulators forced the iPhone maker to back down from an earlier effort to challenge the e-commerce giant's lead. Apple is working on a redesigned version of its iBooks e-book reading application for iPhones and iPads and has hired an executive from Amazon to help. The new app, due to be released in coming months, will include a simpler interface that better highlights books currently being read and a redesigned digital book store that looks more like the new App Store launched last year, according to people familiar with its development. The revamped app in testing includes a new section called Reading Now and a dedicated tab for audio books, the people said. Apple released an early version of its iOS 11.3 mobile operating system update to developers on Wednesday, providing a hint that the new e-books app is on the way. The app is now simply called "Books," rather than "iBooks," according to the update.

46 comments

  1. Nooo! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

    The app is now simply called "Books," rather than "iBooks," according to the update.

    Nooooo, is this finally the end of "i"Everything?

    I'm still in mourning over the end of iCarly!

    1. Re:Nooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That, and next they'll claim ownership of the word 'books'.

    2. Re:Nooo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was really hoping for did you get the eBook in your iBooks?

    3. Re:Nooo! by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      It's even worse than that as it's being applied to the books themselves. Asimov's classic is just going to be called Robot in Apple's store.

  2. 1st post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    oulala !

  3. Reading in LCDs confortable? by iampiti · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Though I work with computers I don't use them to read books. I have an epaper reader for that. What's your experience for reading for long times on LCDs?
    I was under the impression that it wasn't very good for your eyes. I even read some people developed eyesight problems because of that

    1. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still use my first generation Nook for reading.

      What I am wondering is if Apple will do the right thing and only allow DRM-free EPUBs on their store and allow people who don't own Apple products to buy them. If they do, I'll gladly give them my business.

    2. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by ThomasBHardy · · Score: 2

      I've used an iPad as my primary reader since they first came out. Never had any issues with it. I just set the brightness in the reader controls so it's not a spotlight in my face.

      My wife uses an iPad mini as her primary cause it'll fit in her purse.

      Between us we read as many as 10 books a week, particularly in the winter when it's cold outside and a nice fireplace inside.

      Recently I moved up to the iPad Pro, largest size due to a vision defect and it's a great reader for those of us who need more page space for vision issues and there's no corresponding kindle for that size.

      --
      Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic
    3. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The eyesight problems because of reading screens is a myth in that it's not related to screens. It causes eye fatigue, but you can fix that by taking a rest. The eye problems you speak of are caused by focusing on things that are close to you for too long. Paper books, screens, the end of your nose. They'll all cause the exact same problem.

    4. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by cdreimer · · Score: -1

      I don't have any problems reading ebooks on my black-and-white Kindle or any iOS device. I picked up an Amazon Fire 7 for $30 during the holidays and had a hard time reading any ebook on that device. Might be the glossy finish on the screen.

    5. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Creimertard. Mod down.

    6. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take your shitposting shithole to Reddit and stop
      polluting Slashdot with your shit.

    7. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      There you are spamming amazon and youtube affiliate links with yet another fake account, you revenue stream hogging disgusting fat sexist tube of lard, Christopher Dale Reimer!

      You can be sure I will be watching this fake account too. I know this is you because you told me you were working on your freepass 11 file server and you are so dumb that you can't even masquerade yourself properly.

      Now, I told you I was out of meds last week and you didn't even care to contact me you lazy fucker.

      How many times do I have to express the emergency of the situation??????

      The python click script you wrote for my pheromone revenue stream web site suddenly stopped to work!!!!!!

      You fucking incompetent python script writer!!!

      When it works, I get 4000+ clicks a day on my pheromone revenue stream web site but only 5 or 6 without it!!!!

      Now, it seems like you dont care and that you have abandoned me you heartless fucking pig!

      Bonus:
      Here is a story that creimer told me when convincing me what a hard life he had:

      The tree was him and the tree knot was his butt hole!

      So, his uncle packed his fat ass with lard and with his cock! Not that it makes much of a difference but anyway, there it is!

      Signed:
      Ethell, The girl that used to love you and now hates you, burn in hell where you belong you sexist pig!

    8. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by chispito · · Score: 2

      Though I work with computers I don't use them to read books. I have an epaper reader for that. What's your experience for reading for long times on LCDs? I was under the impression that it wasn't very good for your eyes. I even read some people developed eyesight problems because of that

      I don't think they're actually going after the novel reading market. They probably are looking to capitalize on people who buy books and don't read them cover to cover. Like coffee table books, possibly text or reference books, and the like.

      E-Ink makes a hug difference, IMO, when you're just plowing through text. I think most people who try both types of screens very quickly see the difference. Plus, and this is not Apple's or Amazon's or anybody's fault by mine, I get more reading done when I'm not reading on a device that has Youtube, Slashdot, etc.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    9. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Here are some posts from creimer's old accounts. I'll start with his love of child brides.

      If all my assets were liquidated, I would still have enough cash to buy a new car and head off to Mexico to find a chica to marry.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      You're aware that are some states in the U.S. that allow underage marriage as young as 14 years old?
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      As for my comment, I've heard stories of engineers retiring at 50, moving to Mexico and marrying underage girls. Since I work with ex-military, the Philippines is a popular retirement spot for marrying underage girls as well. It's all about getting the most bang for your retirement dollars.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      That only works if you retire to Mexico, build a mansion (by local standards), marry an underage sweet thing and bequeath all your possessions to the village.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      You need to be more specific. I wrote 3,000+ comments this year.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      Nah... I just do it to piss off my trolls and make coffee money off of them.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      We have different priorities. You want to climb the corporate ladder. I want to own the corporate ladder.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      Your bitch licks your balls. Most people don't brag about practicing bestiality. Is there a reason why you married a dog and not a goat?
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      My employers don't care about what my Slashdot trolls think. Now go off and lick your balls somewhere else.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      iPhone 6s and reduce my monthly bill from $80 to $50. As a phone and a video camera, the iPhone 6s isn't obsolete. As a Sprint customer for 20+ years, Sprint will always offer me a new iPhone if I decide to stop using the 6s as a phone in the next several years.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      Miracle workers are never afraid to ask for a second opinion. Supervisor gave me his opinion ? and a mess to clean up. Lesson learned from this incident: if something isn't quite broken, break it.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      So you can turn around call me a liar again? People have been playing that game with me for years.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      Based on what I've read about Uber, he need to tell the boys to clean up their locker room behavior, zip up their pants, and attend sensitivity training until everyone agrees that women are not sexual objects.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      Which doesn't violate the Slashdot TOS. If you got a problem with that, take it up with management.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....
      This year I've posted ~4,000 comments.
      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      I don't bother with mod points. I'm doing something much more sinister. It took ten story submissions ? I'll have to double check the

    10. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least creimer finally fixed creimer's C,D, typo. Sometimes I wonder, with creimer's bloated ego and monstrous narcissism if creimer can even accept that creimer made a typo?

      (After all, creimer believes creimer is the next Stephen King.)

      It probably took the better part of a day for creimer to even look, and then when creimer finally realized that creimer did indeed make a mistake, I imagine creimer's huge cheeks reddening and creimer's toothless mouth spitting in anger!

    11. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Creimer also changed his homepage URL. If you click on the revised URL, it will take you to his YouTube page and then prompt you to subscribe to his channel.

    12. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      creimer has refined the art of shitposting and shitflooding to a high art.

      No one is clicking on that shit, you mong.

    13. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      All else being equal, I prefer reading on an epaper reader (I've got a second-gen Kindle Paperwhite at this point). The problem is one of convenience. I don't want to carry around an additional device, so often I end up reading on my smartphone because I already have it on me. My Kindle is relegated to reading things at home, and even then only if the book that I want to read is available in a standalone ebook format (some publishers require you to read content in their own apps, which rules out the Kindle).

    14. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you ever tried loading one of your own ebooks on a Kindle? Did it catch on fire to stop the pain?

    15. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      E-ink is great for pure text. I vastly prefer to read novels, history books, etc. on my Kindle. But what the Kindle e-ink reader really sucks at is anything with diagrams, drawings, or pictures. Not necessarily just because it's black and white, but because it's small.

      Trying to read manga, for example (which is mostly in black and white) is near useless on a Kindle, because the screen size is far too small to see the art. Regular comics, which use color to good effect, is nigh impossible to read on a Kindle e-ink.

      That's the market that Apple might be going after -- their iPads can use their larger size to display books with graphics to far better effect than the Kindle e-inks can.

    16. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by cdreimer · · Score: -1

      No one is clicking on that shit, you mong.

      Slashdot is my number one external traffic source (40%) to my YouTube channel. Please keep telling yourself that no one reads at -1, no one clicks on my links, and you're doing a public service to the Slashdot community. Your free advertising is invaluable. :P

    17. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, that tremendous traffic of ... 65 views. People tune in to watch the train wreck.

    18. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would explain the 65 views from Sailing Anarchy.

    19. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We don't care if you make money or not. We only care that you can't smear the comments section with more than a few -1 posts a day.
      If you became a millionaire tomorrow I would be happy for you as long as it meant you stopped posting made up barely on topic personal anecdotes.

      This has been going on for like a year and you still don't understand the situation.

    20. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Jahta · · Score: 1

      Though I work with computers I don't use them to read books. I have an epaper reader for that. What's your experience for reading for long times on LCDs? I was under the impression that it wasn't very good for your eyes. I even read some people developed eyesight problems because of that

      [Snip]

      E-Ink makes a hug difference, IMO, when you're just plowing through text. I think most people who try both types of screens very quickly see the difference. Plus, and this is not Apple's or Amazon's or anybody's fault by mine, I get more reading done when I'm not reading on a device that has Youtube, Slashdot, etc.

      Definitely E-Ink FTW. I read a lot and I find it much easier on the eyes. And I also agree that a dedicated e-reader is better; no online capability means no distractions.

    21. Re:Reading in LCDs confortable? by Rande · · Score: 1

      Fanfiction and free translated fiction is why I read a lot on my tablet and not on my e-reader.

  4. hired an executive from Amazon to help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yo guys, what's the worst reading app around?
    Kindle, hands down.
    Hire the man in charge of this "kindle" and get him to work on redesigning our knock-off right now.

  5. Good old apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trying to get the old price fixing gang back together? Lets see if they can do it without being convicted of a a felony charge this time.

  6. But there is one problem I see by kilodelta · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It only applies to the Apple universe. Lots of us moved on to Android platforms.

    1. Re:But there is one problem I see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't fret - I think they're doing OK without you.

    2. Re:But there is one problem I see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kindle is platform independent. I don't know why anybody would lock themselves to Android or Apple for media.

    3. Re:But there is one problem I see by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Kindle is platform independent. I don't know why anybody would lock themselves to Android or Apple for media.

      Because locking yourself into Amazon's dungeon is much worse?

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: -1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. creimer spam alert! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    CREIMER' SUBMISSIONS UPDATE:
    Note also that creimer is trying to regain karma by getting his submissions published as articles on /. so make sure to go to:
    https://slashdot.org/~cdreimer
    https://slashdot.org/~criss69
    https://slashdot.org/~Anonymou...
    https://slashdot.org/~FatCashe...
    https://slashdot.org/~ILoveFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IHateFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IAteFatC...
    https://slashdot.org/~ITapeFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~IApeFatC...
    https://slashdot.org/~IPrayFat...
    https://slashdot.org/~FatCashe...
    and mod down his submissions as well. The great thing is that you don't even need mod points to mod down a submission, just click on the "minus" icon!

    Yes, believe it or not, creimer owns all the above sock puppet accounts. It is a mystery why Slashdot management tolerates it!

    creimer wrote:

    I don't bother with mod points. I'm doing something much more sinister. It took ten story submissions ? I'll have to double check the number ? to move cdreimer's karma from neutral to excellent without ever being exposed to the capricious mods. Mmmmmwwwwahahahahahahaha!

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Creimy is posting more than 2 posts a day. Hurry! mod down otherwise /. will go to hell again!

    Note: you can mod down even if already at -1 to lower karma and to prevent lost /. users to accidentally mod up.

    creimer wrote:

    All you need to do is find a website with a permissive TOS, say, Slashdot, create a Python script to scrape your own comments, sprinkle Amazon affiliate links in various posts, and then re-post past links whenever possible. Won't be long before you start making "coffee money" each month.

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    C.D. Reimer is a renowned Slashdot collaborator, as he puts it himself; "Because of the quality of my posts and my article submissions, I'm a highly rated commentator and moderator."

    But does anybody ever wondered what "C.D." stands for? Well, it stands for Creimy Dumpty of course!

    Creimy Dumpty sat on the wall,
    Creimy Dumpty had a great fall.
    All the king's horses
    And all the king's men
    Couldn't put Creimy Dumpty
    Together again.

    Creimy's siblings video and theme song, very realistic, especially the pants, just like Creimy's:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    With "Vice President Pence Vowing US Astronauts Will Return To the Moon", we are sure they will need miracle workers up there, here is what it would look like. Note that Creimy takes care of bringing a lot of food to the moon as depicted below:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Creimy's real pictures:
    Before the sex change:
    https://ibb.co/cc7Ddw
    After the sex change:
    https://ibb.co/gVad65

    Creimy's "enterprise-level" chair, he talks about it all the time on slashdot:
    http://www.keynamics.com/image...

    Creimy's head, while his supervisor was talking to him, not with him

  9. creimer is a miracle poster! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    creimer is an amazing miracle poster!

    I had never seen a minus 3 post on slashdot before. Only creimer could manage to do it!

    See here:
    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    1. Re:creimer is a miracle poster! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new to this shithole.

  10. Maybe through more legit means this time? by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 1

    ...years after regulators forced the iPhone maker to back down from an earlier effort to challenge the e-commerce giant's lead.

    Yes, that time Apple and the top five book publishers colluded to enable price fixing, causing ebook prices to skyrocket overnight. What a wonderful effort; thank you Apple for fighting the good fight against Amazon. And then a few years later when the DOJ sued them all for it, such a shame.

    I can't wait to see what their new efforts are.

  11. Bullshit creimer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    I don't have any problems reading ebooks on my black-and-white Kindle...

    Bullshit creimer!

    Everybody knows that you are a retard who can't read nor write.

  12. Apple will screw it up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazon lets you read kindle books on pretty much any device you can find via their app.
    Apple is probably going to try and make iBooks Apple devices only.

    For that reason alone I expect them to have next to no success, in this market.

  13. Because you're reading it wrong by Solandri · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really. Most people set their monitor and tablet too bright. For comfortable reading, the brightness of the backlight should match the ambient lighting. That is, if your display is showing pure white and you hold a white sheet of paper next to it, the display should only be slightly brighter than the paper. White paper reflects about 65% of the light which hits it, and the white of your screen shouldn't be much brighter than that.

    Most people set their screens much brighter than that. This results in eyestrain as your pupils have to adjust in size every time they look at and away from the screen. A good example are those LED billboards you see along the highway. When they're set too bright, it hurts your eyes to look at them at night. But when their brightness is set to match the ambient lighting, you can't tell if it's a LED billboard or a traditional paper billboard. Set the backlight of your LCD or OLED tablet to about match the brightness of a piece of paper, and there's no difference between reading from the tablet, an ePaper reader, or a printed page. (ePaper actually has a lower reflectance than white paper, about 50%, which is why the ones with a dim backlight are more comfortable for reading.

  14. have you seen "Apple iBooks"? by Neuroelectronic · · Score: 0

    It's absolutely terrible. So they added multimedia to books and built in a PDF reader. Then tie in iTunes, I don't understand why they think this is acceptable software.

    I don't understand why they think removing the ability to do things that a computer can do is a solution. The only people this matters to is people that don't do any kind of computing. They've gone to making computing easy and accessible to making it impossible.

  15. New iReader? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know Apple is in decline lately, and Amazon has the design kind of nailed with the current Kindles, but wouldn't it be nice to see an Apple e-reader?

  16. Why am I going to wall myself in? by enjar · · Score: 1

    Kindle works as a Kindle (as in the device) and Kindle (as in the app). The app works on pretty every much platform I have around the house ... our Android phones, the Apple devices we have around (iPod, iPhone, iPad), and our (convertible) Windows laptops. I also believe I can read my book on a plain old browser if I log into my Amazon account. We have a family Amazon account so we can share books that way, and my library works with the Overdrive app, which happily lets me check out ebooks from the library and send them to my "Kindle" to read.

    Or I can go get a book through godawful iTunes and then not be able to read it, and I'm locked into the platform, and as far as I can tell, no integration with my local library so I need to pay for the book. Yay, where do I sign up?

  17. Waiting for by Brockmire · · Score: 1

    The next price fixing scandal. Fucking cunts. In 20 years, we'll find out they fucking make illegal deals like people change underwear.

  18. Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another piece of software with an unsearchable name. Search engines finally got good enough that you could hit your target quickly, but then everyone is moving to reusing common terms so now everything is cluttered with everything else.