iPhone Apps – Books more popular than Games?
March 9, 2010 by Anita
It has been estimated that this year will be a phenomenal year for e-books and as we speak, there are more books available as apps for the iPhone than the number of games.
This month, the e-book zoomed past the number of games available in the iTunes App Store according to information released at the beginning of the month by Mobclix, a mobile phone advertising agency. Mobclix reported that as of the beginning of March there were 27,000 books available as apps. Games on the other hand are behind trailing at 25,400 published in 2010 with the next apps in line being entertainment, education, and travel in that order.
This may be a fad, however the number of book apps over the last month outnumbered games two to one. The launch of the iPad, Apple’s tablet reader along with all the books available in the Apps store may well speed up the shift to electronic reading more than expected.
Dan Franklin, Canongate’s digital editor, expressed his thoughts, “The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device, so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting.”
Franklin himself went into publishing digitally about one year ago. He stated his ideas on Apple and digital publishing that it would “bring new people to reading like they have brought new people to music with the iTunes store”.
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s digital publisher stated, “It’s very exciting that people are using iPhones to read books.” He went on to say, “I travel on the tube every day…and you do see people reading books, reading newspapers and playing games. As publishers we need to be on the things that people are using during that distraction time, that commuter time.”
Ettinghausen explained that learning what books are being downloaded is more important than the amount of books available through the Apps Store.
Franklin explained, “Initially books weren’t seen as being top of the pile, but with the launch of the iBookstore imminent, Apple is now taking more notice of book submissions”. In addition, he stated, “With the iPad due next month, and Google looking like they’re going to launch their Google Editions, this is the key year for electronic books.”
Related posts:
- DjVu files readable on iPhone devices, AAA Gun Club app update, Cars.com popular app in the iTunes Store – iPhone World Apps 04/09/2010
- Prices drop on popular iPhone games, iCollect Video Games unveiled, Bong Blitz review – iPhone World Games 3/30/2010
- 7.5/9.5 million iPhones sold Q3 2010, no Nintendo games for iPhone, EU antitrust agency vs Apple +more! (July 5, 2010)
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