HarperCollins offers digital book content for iPhone

sea2stars · 08-15-2007, 04:27 PM

HarperCollins offers digital book content for iPhone.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Publisher HarperCollins said on Wednesday it would make samples from 14 new book titles available for Apple Inc's Web-browsing iPhone in a new effort to extend publishing into digital formats.

Most of the new books will debut in August and September, with the iPhone-compatible versions available at HarperCollins mobile Web site.

Books available for sampling on the iPhone include "The Burnt House" by Faye Kellerman, "Now and Forever" by Ray Bradbury and "Obama" by David Mendell.

HarperCollins' "Browse Inside" applications allows readers to sample pages of its books on the Web. The company began to build up its digital warehouse of published material in 2006 with digital technology firm LibreDigital and now has 10,000 titles available.

iPhone subscribers will be able to view the first 10 pages of chapters one and two of the select group of new books in what HarperCollins described as a pilot program.

After sampling the stories, customers can choose to buy or pre-order the book from retailers through the mobile application.

HarperCollins is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

(Reporting by Michele Gershberg, with additional reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Source Story

radleyp · 08-15-2007, 05:51 PM

I saw this over at PalmAddicts and, as I understand it, the reading will have to be done on the web. That's just crazy, but that's also Apple and its refusal to allow third-party readers to be installed.

NatCh · 08-15-2007, 06:08 PM

That's probably true, radleyp, but then again, since most everything on the iPhone is really "on the web" rather than on the phone itself, I don't suppose it's that surprising.

radleyp · 08-15-2007, 06:13 PM

Yes, you're right, though I think some of the data (the PIM stuff mostly) resides either on the phone or on a desktop.

NatCh · 08-15-2007, 11:05 PM

I guess the 8GB on-board the rascal is meant for MP3 files.

TadW · 08-16-2007, 04:16 AM

The HarperCollins iPhone link: http://mobile.harpercollins.com/browser.asp

Samples are currently available for the following titles:

Winning by Jack Welch & Suzy Welch
Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury
The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman
Love is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison
The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh
Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson
Ike, An American Hero by Michael Korda
Life On the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers
Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass
A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner
Soul Catcher by Michael C. White
Obama by David Mendell
The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel
When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg

What do you guys think... is it time for an iPhone subsection at MobileRead?

Alexander Turcic · 08-16-2007, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TadW

What do you guys think... is it time for an iPhone subsection at MobileRead?

Well, I don't think these HarperCollins news alone would justify an iPhone subsection (to me, samples of a selection of 14 titles doesn't sound very revolutionary - really not).

But there is another interesting development that makes the iPhone a potentially interesting candidate as an e-book reader... it's called Books.app. TeleRead wrote some more about it.

Nate the great · 08-16-2007, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TadW

What do you guys think... is it time for an iPhone subsection at MobileRead?

It looks to me like it is still a "future" ebook device, at least until the ebook reading software is released. Can you create a subforum for the Iphone in the future devices forum?

Alexander Turcic · 08-16-2007, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Can you create a subforum for the Iphone in the future devices forum?

We could do this but I am afraid this would defeat the purpose of the future device forum. Currently it functions as a "catch all" place for any new e-book reader technology that we don't have specific categories for.

paulkbiba · 08-19-2007, 03:32 PM

This is very badly done. I've checked it out on my iPhone, and it isn't really usable. I think the pages have been scanned rather than digitized. They certainly are not in PDF format. If you zoom in you get all sorts of artifacts and the text becomes fuzzy and unclear. Whoever did this doesn't seem to have much knowledge of ebook reading. The only good thing about it is that the iPhone seems to have made some publishers re-think offering ebooks.

The iPhone would make a great ebook reader because of its large screen and extremely crisp display. Unfortunately all the current attempts aren't really practical and I couldn't recommend getting an iPhone for ebook reading at the current time. It will only be feasible when Apple permits external applications to be loaded onto the phone.

TadW · 08-20-2007, 05:07 AM

Bummer. I was seriously consider buying the iPhone - also for an e-book reader replacement - but probably it's better to sit and wait for Apple to integrate e-books into iTunes.

HarryT · 08-20-2007, 05:13 AM

You're probably best off with a Windows Mobile "Smartphone" if you want to use it as a bookreader. That will give you the choice of lots of different reading software, both for freely available and DRM-protected content.

andym · 08-20-2007, 02:12 PM

You're probably best off with a Windows Mobile "Smartphone" if you want to use it as a bookreader. That will give you the choice of lots of different reading software, both for freely available and DRM-protected content.

Erm well yes no perhaps and maybe. Book.app looks promising. the HarperCollins search Inside are a complete red herring - they aren't eBooks. i think they are low-fi jpegs.

If you want to see what the iPhone is capable of check out the screenshots on the Book.app pages:

(taken from here).

As good as my 600x480 resolution PDA don't know how it compares with a smartphone.

I wouldn't mind betting that the mobipocket guys will be on the case pretty soon (when they get back from holiday, get their servers running again etc). Personally for the moment I'll be sticking with the Windows Mobile PDA I already have, and I wouldn't buy an iPhone especially for viewing eBooks, but I will be watching to see what Apple come up with next.

radleyp · 08-20-2007, 02:33 PM

The larger screen is an improvement over that of the MotorolaQ, on which I read via different readers (mainly ereader), but I have a question: how do you move from page to page, by tapping the lower part of the screen perhaps? I think the iphone would improve by adding another hardware button or two and a stylus. BTW, AndyM, the iphone sample you include is much taller than the iphone itself.

andym · 08-20-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radleyp

BTW, AndyM, the iphone sample you include is much taller than the iphone itself.

I checked and the pixel dimensions of the screenshot are 320x480 - perhaps the pixels dimensions on the phone are smaller than on a monitor?

08-15-2007, 04:27 PM	#1
sea2stars Zealot Posts: 104 Karma: 64 Join Date: Dec 2006 Device: eb1150, Sony Reader	HarperCollins offers digital book content for iPhone HarperCollins offers digital book content for iPhone. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Publisher HarperCollins said on Wednesday it would make samples from 14 new book titles available for Apple Inc's Web-browsing iPhone in a new effort to extend publishing into digital formats. Most of the new books will debut in August and September, with the iPhone-compatible versions available at HarperCollins mobile Web site. Books available for sampling on the iPhone include "The Burnt House" by Faye Kellerman, "Now and Forever" by Ray Bradbury and "Obama" by David Mendell. HarperCollins' "Browse Inside" applications allows readers to sample pages of its books on the Web. The company began to build up its digital warehouse of published material in 2006 with digital technology firm LibreDigital and now has 10,000 titles available. iPhone subscribers will be able to view the first 10 pages of chapters one and two of the select group of new books in what HarperCollins described as a pilot program. After sampling the stories, customers can choose to buy or pre-order the book from retailers through the mobile application. HarperCollins is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (Reporting by Michele Gershberg, with additional reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore) © Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. Source Story

08-16-2007, 04:16 AM	#6
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	The HarperCollins iPhone link: http://mobile.harpercollins.com/browser.asp Samples are currently available for the following titles: Winning by Jack Welch & Suzy Welch Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman Love is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson Ike, An American Hero by Michael Korda Life On the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers Beyond the Body Farm by Bill Bass A Killer's Kiss by William Lashner Soul Catcher by Michael C. White Obama by David Mendell The Case for the Real Jesus by Lee Strobel When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg What do you guys think... is it time for an iPhone subsection at MobileRead? Last edited by TadW; 08-16-2007 at 04:24 AM.

08-20-2007, 02:33 PM	#14
radleyp Evangelist Posts: 499 Karma: 20623 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: North Salem & NYC, NY Device: Kindle Global, iphone4, ipad	The larger screen is an improvement over that of the MotorolaQ, on which I read via different readers (mainly ereader), but I have a question: how do you move from page to page, by tapping the lower part of the screen perhaps? I think the iphone would improve by adding another hardware button or two and a stylus. BTW, AndyM, the iphone sample you include is much taller than the iphone itself. Last edited by radleyp; 08-20-2007 at 02:38 PM.

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08-15-2007, 05:51 PM	#2
radleyp Evangelist Posts: 499 Karma: 20623 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: North Salem & NYC, NY Device: Kindle Global, iphone4, ipad	I saw this over at PalmAddicts and, as I understand it, the reading will have to be done on the web. That's just crazy, but that's also Apple and its refusal to allow third-party readers to be installed.

08-15-2007, 06:08 PM	#3
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	That's probably true, radleyp, but then again, since most everything on the iPhone is really "on the web" rather than on the phone itself, I don't suppose it's that surprising.

08-15-2007, 06:13 PM	#4
radleyp Evangelist Posts: 499 Karma: 20623 Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: North Salem & NYC, NY Device: Kindle Global, iphone4, ipad	Yes, you're right, though I think some of the data (the PIM stuff mostly) resides either on the phone or on a desktop.

08-15-2007, 11:05 PM	#5
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	I guess the 8GB on-board the rascal is meant for MP3 files.

08-19-2007, 03:32 PM	#10
paulkbiba Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 45 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: United States Device: Nokia e61i, iPhone	This is very badly done. I've checked it out on my iPhone, and it isn't really usable. I think the pages have been scanned rather than digitized. They certainly are not in PDF format. If you zoom in you get all sorts of artifacts and the text becomes fuzzy and unclear. Whoever did this doesn't seem to have much knowledge of ebook reading. The only good thing about it is that the iPhone seems to have made some publishers re-think offering ebooks. The iPhone would make a great ebook reader because of its large screen and extremely crisp display. Unfortunately all the current attempts aren't really practical and I couldn't recommend getting an iPhone for ebook reading at the current time. It will only be feasible when Apple permits external applications to be loaded onto the phone.

08-20-2007, 05:07 AM	#11
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Bummer. I was seriously consider buying the iPhone - also for an e-book reader replacement - but probably it's better to sit and wait for Apple to integrate e-books into iTunes.

08-20-2007, 05:13 AM	#12
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	You're probably best off with a Windows Mobile "Smartphone" if you want to use it as a bookreader. That will give you the choice of lots of different reading software, both for freely available and DRM-protected content.

08-20-2007, 02:12 PM	#13
andym Groupie Posts: 189 Karma: 793 Join Date: Oct 2006	You're probably best off with a Windows Mobile "Smartphone" if you want to use it as a bookreader. That will give you the choice of lots of different reading software, both for freely available and DRM-protected content. Erm well yes no perhaps and maybe. Book.app looks promising. the HarperCollins search Inside are a complete red herring - they aren't eBooks. i think they are low-fi jpegs. If you want to see what the iPhone is capable of check out the screenshots on the Book.app pages: (taken from here). As good as my 600x480 resolution PDA don't know how it compares with a smartphone. I wouldn't mind betting that the mobipocket guys will be on the case pretty soon (when they get back from holiday, get their servers running again etc). Personally for the moment I'll be sticking with the Windows Mobile PDA I already have, and I wouldn't buy an iPhone especially for viewing eBooks, but I will be watching to see what Apple come up with next.

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