iBooks coming for iPhone?

[absenthanded]

I downloaded it and peeked inside; it looks like it to me ... eventually.

If you use the grid view in your Apps section of iTunes 9.1, you can see which apps are just for the iPad, just for iPhone/iPod touch, and which are for all three via universal binaries.

Using that info to find a universal binary app I already owned for comparison, I also peeked inside DropZap.

After unziping the .ipa files and looking in their .app package contents, I took a quick look at the executable files (named iBook and DropZap respectively) with the 'file' command from a terminal window.

What I found was that both of them are Mach-O universal binaries with 2 architectures: armv6 and armv7.

But iBooks doesn't present itself as an app for iPhones and iPod touches in iTunes, so I'd suppose Apple is waiting to release it for those platforms. UI tweaks maybe?

To me, iBooks is one of the most interesting apps for the iPad. How well it works will be a large factor in my deciding whether or not to get a dedicated eBook reader such as the Kindle. Working on the iPhone as well would just be more points in its favor.

What do you guys think?

 

[Jeremy]

From what I understand iBooks will not work any Mac or iPhone. It will only be available on the iPad.

 

[fungg3]

It'd be very hard to read from the iPhone.

 

[iquinn]

Yeah I really do not see iBooks coming to the iPhone. The screen size is just way to small to make it practical for most users.

 

[whmurray]

Yeah I really do not see iBooks coming to the iPhone. The screen size is just way to small to make it practical for most users.

There are at least four readers for the iPhone. All of them are quite usable. The real issue to me is not whether the app designed for the iPad will work on the iPhone but whether iPhone users will have access to the same sources and content.

I like the fact that Kindle keeps track of where one is in one's book, whether one is reading it on the Kindle or the iPhone. That is not a feature that I would have expected but it is clearly the way one would want it to be. I hope that works with the iPad. I hope iBooks works the same way, so that one can read interchangeably across the iPhone and iPad.

 

[cardfan]

You guys don't get their marketing by now? It'll be a 4.0 feature for iphone. Apple saves them up to hit you with all at once.

 

[absenthanded]

You guys don't get their marketing by now? It'll be a 4.0 feature for iphone. Apple saves them up to hit you with all at once.

Just announced: iBooks is tent pole #4.

 

[Jeremy]

http://forum.tipb.com/iphone-apps-games/188613-ibooks-coming-iphone.html