[tomsem]

This is nonsense. Apple has had a self-publishing platform from day 1 (or at least within a few months of iBooks launch), and I have used it (once). It would be nice if they improved it, however.

They actually would prefer that you go through somebody else like Smashwords, as it costs them money to maintain their own platform and tools for self-publishing, while their cut is the same regardless of who submits the material (30%).