澳洲的Apple iBoostore开业了

patrickzhu

苹果iBook里的iBookstore澳洲版的网上书店终于发布。

Exploring Apple's iBookstore

Stephen Hutcheon
November 4, 2010

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... 20101104-17fld.html



Almost six months after the iPad was launched in Australia, the last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place with the local launch of Apple's iBookstore service.

This iBookstore was a central part of the January unveiling of the iPad when Steve Jobs declared that while Amazon had “done a great job” with its Kindle, “we're going to stand on their shoulders and go a little bit farther”.

Launched with the softest of soft launches yesterday, the iBookstore currently now gives Australians access to selected titles from Macmillan, Hachette, HarperCollins, Hardie Grant, Murdoch Publishers and Wiley.



More will undoubtedly follow as Apple signs up more local publisher, but there no indication of if or when that will happen.

If you're a big fan of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens, your may already have been taking advantage of the many free (out of copyright) books that have been available on the iBookstore.

But now you can add titles such as Lazarus Rising by John Winston Howard or How I Became a Phone Sex Operator by Elaine Shuel to your virtual bookshelf on the iPad ... for a price.

Until now, if you wanted to buy new books, iPad users could do this through either the Kindle app or the Borders Kobo app.

When you can find a book you want to buy, the Amazon process has been seamless and, thanks to dollar parity, amazingly inexpensive.

I bought David Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect last month and it cost $12, after the exchange rate conversion. The physical version of that same book retails here for $35.

But the big problem with Amazon is that shopping for books – which ought to be a serendipitous experience – in fact turns out to be an exercise in frustration.

Not every book is available to Aussie shoppers, and there doesn't seem to be any pattern to why some books are available for Australian users and others aren't.

The iBookstore, in theory, should give us more choice. And, a day after the launch, there are smattering of local newly released books available.

The official line from Apple is that there are "thousands", but it's not clear if that includes the $2 variety to which the phone sex operator book belongs.

At this stage, there aren't enough of the first release books and those that are there appear to be much more expensive that comparable books in the US.

But they are cheaper than the local physical versions. John Howard's autobiography, for instance, retails for $59.95. On the iBookstore, it sells for $33.

Yesterday I wanted to buy a book called Pirate Outrages: True Stories of Terror on the China Seas. No luck on either Amazon or the iBookstore. But the Abbeys books shop in Sydney's York Street had a copy.

For a while more at least, the traditional way of buying books still prevails.

patrickzhu

Apple's iBookstore opens its virtual doors
By Stephen Fenech, National Technology Writer
From: The Daily Telegraph
ovember 03,

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au ... rez7r-1225947196128


Australia's major publishers will be offering new releases, bestsellers and catalogue titles in the new iBookstore. Source: The Daily Telegraph

MORE than five months after the iPad's release, Apple's iBookstore has today finally opened it virtual doors.

Australia's major publishers, including HarperCollins, Macmillan, Hachette and Murdoch Books will be offering new releases, bestsellers and catalogue titles in the iBookstore.

Until today the iBookstore, a free app on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, was only offering free classic titles with major releases and latest bestsellers conspicuously absent.

The new books are priced from as little as 99 cents with the average price for paperback bestsellers at around $14.99.

The popular Twilight series books from Hachette, Australia's second largest publisher, are priced at $12.99 each.

John Howard's new biography Lazarus Rising, from HarperCollins is $32.99 while Reg Grundy's autobiography (Murdoch Books) is $19.99.

Titles from well known authors including Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Matthew Reilly, John Marsden and Maeve Binchy will also be available.

"The iBookstore in the US and UK have been a huge success, and it is incredibly exciting that Australian readers can now have a store perfectly tailored for their needs, and that Hachette's many authors have an innovative new outlet for their works," said Hachette managing director Malcolm Edwards.

"We are absolutely delighted that so many of our books will be available on the Australian iBookstore, as we are committed to ensuring readers can enjoy the very best writing whenever, and however, they want to buy and read it."

Apple's iBookstore is the latest eBook store to open after similar virtual shopfronts from Borders and Amazon made their e-titles available to Australian customers to read on dedicated eReaders.

Most stores support the epub format which means the titles can be read on a number of devices including the iPad, the Kobo from Borders and the new Sony Reader.

kawara

不觉得本坛会有人从这买书

iami

garysu

价格不是很行

chenyi1976

贵得要死，我觉得比特价书店的实体书还贵。。。

书少得可怜，我搜了几本，都找不到。