Keith Moerer, the Director of iBooks at Apple, stated at the Digital Book World conference that Apple has gained 1 million new iBooks users each week since the app was bundled with iOS 8.
So why the increase of users? Naturally, having the app already available on most devices means more people will connect with the service, and perhaps more likely to use it over other e-reader apps to save the confusion of swapping between ebook services. Also, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have made for a much more comfortable reading experience on the iPhone, so those readers are more likely to read on the device they engage most with. Moerer touches on this, saying that more users are buying iBooks on their phones than ever before.
Moerer added:
“It’s in Apple’s DNA to support creative professionals of all types … many of whom use our hardware, many of whom use our software. That support carries over to the way we run our media business.
Whether an author chooses to self-publish or work with a small or large publisher, I’m very proud that our business terms are the same. The same 30-70 split applies to a self-published author as well as an author published by the very biggest house.”
Though they aren’t named directly, this seems to be a dig at Amazon, which makes publishers pay to have their releases promoted on their site. iBooks doesn’t even allow companies to pay for any kind of promotion in the service, which might sound like bad news for the publishing houses with a hefty promotion budget, but it’s great for smaller ones and any author who wants to take the plunge in self-publishing. They aren’t going to get drowned out by the heavyweights.
Not used iBooks before? Check out our review to see how it compares with services like Kindle.
Source: GigaOm