HarperCollins Publishers has annoucned Browse Inside for the Apple iPhone, a pilot program that brings samples from 14 new titles to the Apple iPhone. According to HarperCollins, Browse Inside digitally replicates the experience of browsing the pages of a book prior to purchasing.
iPhone users visiting the Browse Inside for the Apple iPhone will initially be able to view the first 10 pages of the first two chapters of the sample titles.
When the iPhone was released in early July, Dr. Joe Webb shared his thoughts on how technologies like the iPhone effect print:
I'm often asked what the effect of these kinds of technologies are on print, and my response is that they just increase the ease, leading to greater frequency, of non-print media use. The iPhone is not particularly special in terms of its capabilities; there have been many cell phones and PDAs that could handle the same tasks. What is better is the integration of the applications, and the ease of synchronization with a user’s primary computer. The major difference and the biggest leap ahead is the touch screen interface. Don't be surprised if touch screen technologies become more widely available on desktop and notebook PCs.
I'm not surprised to see the iPhone support eBook technology, it's a natural extension of the phones functionality. Book printers shouldn't worry about devices like the iPhone completetly replacing the printed books, these devices offer oppertunites for content creators and distributors to add vaule to the media people consume. Selling a printed book and selling access to an eBook is a perfect example of how single source publishing couple with cross-media distribution can deliever information to people in a format that meets their media consumption habits.
Discussion
By Eric Vessels on Aug 15, 2007
As with many things, there was great disappointment that there was not a native standalone ebook reader in the iphone. The hackers are having a field day so far though and have already released one:
http://www.iphoneworld.ca/news/2007/08/12/iphone-ebook-reader/
While missing some applications, third parties appear to be answering the call to make web-based solutions and there are plenty of them already. Makes one wonder if this was a strategy to push everything through Safari or if Apple will use the ingenuity of the hacker community to eventually release other apps. My guess is both. Note to Jobs & Friends (in order of preference):
- iChat for iPhone! Please. Hurry. While I can use a number of web-based solutions, I really need to be able to get notified when I'm being hit with a chat much like the SMS app (which is killer).
- copy/paste ability. magnifying glass is neat and so is auto-correct (when you trust it), but ability to select text and cut/copy then paste somewhere else seems like a no brainer...especially in the Notes app.
- a bloody voice recorder already!
- camera capable of zooming and shooting video
- better battery life or ability to charge multiple and hot swap
- GPS - I find the current map capability to be more than adequate, but adding GPS would be swift!
By Eric Vessels on Aug 15, 2007
I just took a whirl at this on the phone. My biggest complaint against these Safari based "apps" is again the reason for disappointment in this one. To read the text you have to zoom (that neat little pinch thing), but once you do, the forward and back controls are lost. This puts you into a cycle of pinching in and pinching out, scrolling up and scrolling down that is pretty well maddening for reading any kind of book. This works for web content because it is in chunks and you read it in fits and spurts, but interrupts book reading something awful. I guess, of course, for the intent of the site to just give a "look inside" it works well enough, but it's no ebook reader! I could not with any confidence confirm the publishers wish that this experience "digitally replicates the experience of browsing the pages of a book prior to purchasing." I'd almost rather they read me the first 10 pages and podcast it!
By Brian Regan on Aug 16, 2007
I love my iPhone, but using it for heavy reading is out of the question for me. Perhaps if it it was able to project the page onto a flat surface so that I could have more or less a larger screen.
By Michael on Aug 22, 2007
http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/" rel="nofollow">Books.app is a simple eBook reader for the iPhone. It reads HTML and text files stored in your Media/EBooks folder.
I haven't installed this yet...
Discussion
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