The virtues of the iBooks app and the iPad’s function as an eReader have been the subject of several previous posts here at In the Stax, and while most early adopters utilize the device for entertainment and productivity purposes, it is also emerging as an educational tool for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that have communication difficulties. In a recent post for BlogHer Shannon Des Roches Rosa proclaims the family iPad, won in a raffle, to be a “near miracle” for her son Leo, who has autism. With several autism-focused AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) apps available, such as TapToTalk, Proloquo2Go, and iCommunicate, children with speech or communication difficulties can improve their skills and gain confidence. “We maintain a list of social questions for Leo to work on; with iCommunicate, we were able to create a list of answers to those questions for him to access and tap on any time — and (bonus) he even did some of the icons’ voiceovers.”
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Steve Jobs’ presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday revealed some interesting facts about the iPad’s eBook sales and the new features planned for the iBooks app. Engadget reported on Job’s impressive announcement that in the few short months since the iPad’s release, Apple has won 22 percent of the eBook market. In the first 65 days that the “magical” device was available to the public, five million eBooks were downloaded by iPad users. To capitalize on this success, Jobs also announced some great new features set to be added to the iBooks app later in the month. Users will be able to read PDF documents with iBooks, as well as utilize new note-taking and bookmarking functions.
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Yesterday, AppAdvice.com reported that the iBooks App for Apple’s new iPad will feature the entire Gutenberg Project catalog free of charge. An incredible digital resource, the Gutenberg Project is maintained with the help of thousands of volunteers, and offers more than 30,000 digitized books for free. The books are available in a variety of digital formats (ePub, HTML, etc.) and can be viewed on PCs, smart phones, eReaders, and soon the iPad. All of their titles are in the public domain, and AppleInsider.com speculates that Apple pursued this partnership in order to head off the propagation of inferior apps created to make a profit on books already free to the public. We’re big supporters of reading for free at In the Stax, and applaud Apple for providing these valuable resources to their consumers at no charge.
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The fight for supremacy on the eBook frontier has gotten ugly. Last week, book-selling giant Amazon battled with Macmillan, one of the largest publishers in the U.S., over eBook prices. The New York Times reports that Macmillan CEO John Sargent flew to Seattle on Thursday to meet with Amazon execs and push to move to a pricing model where the publisher would set consumer prices for eBooks, with new releases ranging from $12.99 to $14.99, and Amazon taking a 30% sales commission. These terms are similar to the agreement Macmillan now has with Apple, to sell its titles on the new iBooks app for the iPad. However, Amazon remained adamant about maintaining its current $9.99 price point for new releases, and after a tense stand-off, stopped selling books from Macmillan and its family of imprints on Friday (though the publisher’s titles could still be purchased from third party vendors on the site.)
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Earlier this morning, Steve Jobs introduced the world to Apple’s latest technological marvel: the iPad. The slick new interactive tablet, which looks a lot like an iPhone on steroids, allows users to browse the web, get e-mail, view photos and video, play music and games… and read books.

Just .5″ thick and weighing 1.5 pounds, the iPad’s 9.7″ glossy multi-touch IPS display offers considerably more screen real estate than its competitors in the eReader space. Both the Nook by Barnes & Noble and the Amazon Kindle 2 have 6″ screens, though the Nook does also have a 3.5″ color nav screen. Like the Nook, the iPad will use the ePub format.

Apple’s new iBooks app (which works similar to iTunes) and its partnership with 5 big publishing houses: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, and Simon & Schuster, allow users to  access a wide selection of titles that are easily purchased and downloaded. In addition to books, The New York Times has already announced its new app for the iPad, and a number of other publications are rumored to be in talks with Apple to provide content for the device.
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