600k ebooks in 5 days

[scottjl]

according to steve jobs, people downloaded 600k books in 5 days from the itunes book store. not too shabby.. about 250k were downloaded in the first day alone.

other stats:

"about 450,000 ipads sold" in those 5 days
3.5 million apps downloaded in those 5 days

[dmaul1114]

Not bad at all. Wonder how many Kindle books (and other apps) where sold to people using iPads.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by scottjl

according to steve jobs, people downloaded 600k books in 5 days from the itunes book store. not too shabby.. about 250k were downloaded in the first day alone.

other stats:

"about 450,000 ipads sold" in those 5 days
3.5 million apps downloaded in those 5 days

The real question: how many of those 600k were free ebooks. Because what the iBookstore needs to be competitive is *sales*, not downloads.

[scottjl]

actually i don't care how many the itunes store sells and how much money it makes for apple. it's nice to know that there are now 600k more ebooks out in the wild than there were before. not including books sold on kindle or kobo. it's slightly more than 1 book an ipad sold. not bad at all.

[Donnageddon]

I imagine a couple hundred thousand of the ibook downloads were the free "Pooh"

Good for Winnie!

[phearlez]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

I imagine a couple hundred thousand of the ibook downloads were the free "Pooh"

Good for Winnie!

I did not have to explicitly download WtP, it was simply already in the reader when I installed iBooks. I suppose they could count a download of iBooks as a download of that book as well but that seems disingenuous.

[leebase]

I finished my first book, and am reading my second on the iPad. Neither will count as downloads. The first was an epub I transferred via iTunes and the second is a kindle book.

I bet they are counting the 450,000 Pooh books.

Lee

[dmaul1114]

I hope they aren't counting the Pooh books since they're pre-loaded.

If it's 600,000 actual downloads that's great news. Even if a lot of them are free, it at least shows people are checking out ebooks and the iPads e-reader functions.

Anything that expands the e-book market is good for e-book fans. Even the e-ink diehards. A larger market for e-books will mean better selection and prices as competition increases.

[adrian1944]

Originally Posted by leebase

I finished my first book, and am reading my second on the iPad. Neither will count as downloads. The first was an epub I transferred via iTunes and the second is a kindle book.

Lee

In another thread it is suggested self loaded epubs have too small a font which cannot be changed in size. Was this the case with your itunes loaded epub?

[scottjl]

i've loaded some 500 epubs out of calibre into ibooks. you can easily change the font size. the smallest size is about that of a typewriter. while it is readable, it's a bit uncomfortable for long reading with my old eyes. there are 5 sizes with the largest being smaller than what my 600 will get up to. i have read several hundred pages at the medium size just fine.

portrait mode presents a single page, which i find easier to read. landscape presents two side-by-side which i find more difficult. to each his own.

[rainingbooks]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

I imagine a couple hundred thousand of the ibook downloads were the free "Pooh"

Good for Winnie!

You KNOW it. This is a Pooh conspiracy!

[Fat Abe]

No, I think he would play golf.

Zee iPad is a multipurpose device. While shopping at the iPad store, I noticed more customers interested in apps than ebooks. In other words, for a certain portion of the population, games and free apps will outnumber books and pdf files on their iPad.

One interesting segment of the population is musicians. As soon as an enterprising software designer can develop a killer app to record and output in midi format from the iPad, he'll make a fortune. (Midipad is not that app).

The iPad is such a gimmick, I can't resist downloading goofy apps like Accordeon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZs2zUB7zq4

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by phearlez

I did not have to explicitly download WtP, it was simply already in the reader when I installed iBooks. I suppose they could count a download of iBooks as a download of that book as well but that seems disingenuous.

Disingenuous, thy name is corporate spinning!

That is what any corporate entity would do. If Apple is not counting the free Pooh books, I can see a firing of some corporate shill in the near future.

I don't blame Apple, that is just the name of the game.

Why do you think Jobs spent a major portion of today's announcement of the iPhone 4.0 talking about "iAd"?

[Donnageddon]

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

The iPad is such a gimmick, I can't resist downloading goofy apps like Accordeon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZs2zUB7zq4

Actually the ipad is the best ereading device I have ever owned, and I have owned a lot of them.

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by Donnageddon

Why do you think Jobs spent a major portion of today's announcement of the iPhone 4.0 talking about "iAd"?

'cause it's going to make him rich(er)..