A publisher, John T. Colby, bought a series of old titles and sold under the name iBooks in since 1999. Around the same time, Apple sold laptops under the iBook name and, more important, began its iBook store in 2010. Colby is stating that Apple has essentially destroyed his business and that:
“Apple’s use of the mark ‘iBooks’ to denote the electronic library that can be accessed via its iPad tablet computer and its iPhone is likely to overwhelm the good will of plaintiffs’ ‘ibooks’ and ‘ipicturebooks’ marks and render them virtually worthless.”
First, to begin, let’s remind the reader that Leatherbound.me is not what it sounds like. The site is safe for work and completely tame. Trust me. I found out the hard way.
That said, Leatherbound.me is actually a book comparator site. You type in the name of a book or an author (any keyword, really) and you get a list of titles back. Click on one of the titles and you see that book’s availability in the Kindle Store, the Nook Marketplace, and the iBook Souk. Why is this important? Because one of the main sticking points for many people when it comes to dedicating themselves to one online bookstore is the availability of popular titles. For example, the iBook store has barely any titles at all while Amazon and B&N selectively miss a few popular titles. Knowing where these titles are at a glace is very valuable in certain, very specific situations. → Read More
While the value of this information is fairly dubious and fraught with hidden factors, it seems that the Kindle store is outselling the iBooks store (on iPad) by 60 to 1. First, let’s look at the source of this information and then discuss why ebooks are winning and, more specifically, the Kindle store won.
A young man name J.A. Konrath, who seems to write mysteries, noted that he sells many, many ebooks, commenting that the Kindle store is literally making all of his boat payments for him. However, the iBook store is garbage. He writes:
That leaves Apple, and according to my numbers Apple is a very small part of the ebook market. I sell 200 ebooks a day on Kindle. On iPad, I sell 100 a month.
For those of you out there who like to say “Why would I spend $500 on a netbook when I could get a full notebook?”, here’s a deal for you. Remember the iBook? You can get a refurbished one with a 1.07GHz G4 processor, 256MB RAM, 30GB hard drive, and an Airport Extreme wireless card for $349 from Geek.com. The regular price is $379 but use promo code “IBOOKDEAL” (without the quotes) to save $30. Apple iBook G4 [Geeks.com] → Read More
Not sure how we missed this but last week iLounge found an odd Apple device — something between a touch and an eBook reader — on the private iTunes store for EF Education Tours. Obviously EF is a real organization and probably isn’t privy to Steve Jobs’ secret wet dreams, so I doubt this is anything to get excited about. However, we should probably get excited about it nonetheless, proving that fanboism knows no bounds. Apple adds private iTunes Store pages, displaying odd new touch device icon [iLounge] surveys – Take Our Poll → Read More
My old Powerbook G4 had a busted display, a missing battery, and a broken keyboard and mouse. I sold it for parts for about $200 after using it as an external hard drive for a while, but now I wish I had done what this guy whipped up. Jonas had an old 500Mhz iBook all busted up, so he took out the battery and optical drive and turned it into a working server. The iBook is placed inside a book cover and can be easily concealed in a bookshelf. A perfect idea for those of you who want a small server without a cavalcade of wires being shown off to your guests. This is definitely one of the best implementations of an old, busted laptop I’ve seen. DIY iBook server booklet [MAKE] → Read More
FastMac has announced a nearly indestructible power adapter for Apple PowerBook G4 and iBook owners. The TruePower 65-watt AC adapter provides constant wattage that equals or exceeds other Apple branded adapters. It’s compatible with all PowerBook G4 models including Aluminum and Titanium as well as iBook G3 and G4s. It may just look like your run-of-the-mill power adapter, but it’s so much cooler. Kick it, run it over with a car and it’ll keep on going. Don’t believe me? Just check out the video! These guys know what they’re doing. Product Page → Read More
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