Back in 1984, Apple introduced the original Macintosh to the world with what is now one of the best known gadget commercials ever. Apple drew on the themes from the book 1984 to create the impression that the Macintosh  would shatter the gray, monolithic, controlling overmind and free the workers.

It was a great commercial, but it has also come back and bit Apple in the ass now that they are the monolith that they were fighting in the commercial.

Admittedly, Apple’s products  aren’t as drab and gray as in the commercial (not anymore, at least), but they are no less uniform. And Apple does like to present the image of a monolith with but a single voice.

So when did that happen?

And more importantly, what is the chance that someone might free us from Apple?

When Did Apple Become the Monolithic, Evil Voice it Fought in the Iconic 1984 Commercial?

Naturally this didn’t go over so well with many in digital publishing, so today Apple released a slightly tweaked EULA. They didn’t relax any of the control they have over your products, but they did make it slightly more explicit. Here’s the old language:

If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a “Work”), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple.

Here’s the new language:

If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple. This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format.

See, the problem with this is that the new language still covers other formats. If you take an iBooks file, and then disassemble it (so you can edit it), when you put it back together the resulting Epub will be “a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author”.

An Epub made from parts of an iBooks file by definition contains files made with iBA, so that Epub is controlled by Apple just as much as the source iBooks file was. The only change today was that Apple wanted to make it clear how thoroughly they control the ebooks you make. If you were hoping that Apple might loosen their control, well, you don’t know Apple.

P.S. If you disagree with my interpretation, please note that I am using a pessimistic interpretation. This is what I think one of Apple’s lawyers will decide the EULA means should it ever go to court. It is probably wrong on a technical level, but the argument could still be made that my interpretation is valid.

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Apple Still Wants to Control the Ebooks You Make with iBooks Author

There’s no news on iBooks, but Apple did say that they sold 37 million iPhones and over 15 million iPads last quarter. That’s over double the number sold in the same quarter last year. Apple also reported record revenue last quarter of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion. Again, that’s nearly double what Apple did same quarter last year.

I’ve just caught Apple’s quarterly earnings call this afternoon. iBooks Author had been downloaded over 600,000 times since its unveiling last Thursday.The iTunes U app has also been downloaded 3 million app times, also feeling a bump from the announcement a few days ago. There’s also about a million and a half iPads in schools t the moment.

Getting back to the iPads, it looks like that saying about how there’s an iPad market and a separate market for all other tablets is still true. Barring some miraculous turn of events, Apple is going to dominate the gadget world for some time.

Apple Sold 15 Million iPads Last Quarter

One of the lesser known details about iBooks is the hoops Apple makes you jump through to upload an ebook. Ever since iBooks launched 2 years ago, Apple has restricted direct uploads to only people who are using a Mac. Lots of people in digital publishing rolled our eyes at this, but it’s Apple so what can you do?

And today Apple continued with the hoops.

My objection here is that Apple is excluding everyone who is too poor to afford a Mac. Yes, you can get a Mac Mini for around $600, but I know lots of teachers who cannot afford it. I can’t, either.

But at lest this app promises ease of use. You’re going to be able to drag and drop photos, videos and even Pages or MSWord files into various stock templates. It’s also going to be easy to add a add a cover and TOC. Building  glossary is going to be a 2 click operation. The iTunes listing also says that you can interactive widgets. For example, you can drag and drop a Keynote presentation into the doc and it’ll live on as an interactive widget.

Still I think this really should have been made open to teachers everywhere, including the ones who are using old computers, hand me downs, and even borrowed equipment. Education should be democratizing, not just open to the wealthy.

BTW, if you’re noticing that I didn’t fault Apple for the iTunes U app, it’s because an iPod Touch can be had for considerably less than a Mac. Also, I think creation tools are a separate case from the apps that use the content.

Update: And I’ve just heard that this app actually makes Epub which can be read on other devices like the Nook and Sony, so there’s a really good reason to make it available to all, not just the rich. And the license restricts you from selling the ebook elsewhere, but that’s just icing on the cake.

iTunes

iBooks Author Launched – Apple Not Quite as Democratizing as I’d Hoped

In addition to the new iBooks, Apple also announced today that iTunes U, their educational audiobook and video section of iTunes, now has its own app. The app was actually released yesterday, but clearly we all missed it.

Now that I’m looking at it, I can see that it’s a lot more than the old iTunes U. The few times I’d looked t it before, it appeared to be just an iTunes section for educational videos. Now it is a complete educational app. You can use it to use 1 of 500 thousand recorded lectures, videos, books, and other resources on thousands of subjects from Algebra to Zoology.

But you can also use it to actually take a course. That includes tracking completed assignments as well as any updates posted by the instructors. This pp also promise integration with the new iBooks.

Okay, this is the bombshell of the day. I don’t know yet if Apple tried to overturn the textbook cart, but they certainly accomplished that goal with classwork. To be fair, there already was a growing Open Ed movement. But now that Apple is behind it, we could see some real change in academia.

iTunes

Apple Launches iTunes U app

image by Paul Biba

I got an email earlier today from a contact with Kindle PR. She wanted to bring my attention to the new Kindle Store interface.  Amazon just brought it online this week, and it was made specifically for the iPad. You can find it here: www.amazon.com/iPadKindleStore.

From the store you can choose to start reading the book immediately in your web browser with Kindle Cloud Reader, or you can choose to open the book with your Kindle for iPad app.

In case you were wondering, it doesn’t work with Android browsers (unless you first change the user agent). I checked.

BTW, did you know that you can add a link to the iPad Kindle Store to your iPad’s desktop? Click on the icon in the upper left corner that is the 4th from the left. You’ll see the option in the menu that drops down.

So first Amazon released the Cloud Reader, and now the iPad has its own Kindle Store. yep, it really does look like Amazon is trying to get around Apple. That would be good, except that Amazon is almost as much of a control freak. And to be honest, Amazon did this for their own benefit, not yours.

Amazon Launches iPad Optimized Kindle Store

Now Digitimes is reporting that Apple has 2 iPads coming in late January, not one, and neither is going to be the iPad Mini.

The new iPads are rumored to be unveiled at the iWorld conference on 26 January.  This event opens a couple weeks after CES, and it’s no surprise that Apple’s ignoring CES again (they do every year).  Both new models will join the existing iPad 2, and according to industry sources Apple’s going to sell 3 models.  They’ll each be focused on a different market segment (entry-level, mid-range and high-end), the sources claimed.

The rumor goes on to add that the iPad 2 will stick around and get a price cut.  It’s going to go head to head with the Kindle Fire, while the new models will be for those with deeper pockets. The new iPads will have dimensions similar to the existing iPad but they’ll be getting a new 9.7″ screen. It reportedly will have double the resolution of the existing screen (QXGA – 1,536×2,048 pixels). The more expensive one is also supposed to get an 8MP camera, while the middle model is supposed to have a 5M camera.

Interesting rumor, but I’m a little disappointed. I was looking forward to the iPad Mini.

And I’m not so sure that this one is completely true. There have been times where Apple has released more than one iPod at a single event, so that could be what’s happening with the new iPads. But I think it’s much more likely that the 2 models referenced above are actually the same device, only with one small difference. I think one will have 3G.

But I do think the iPad 2 rumor is mostly true.  i don’t think Apple will sell it for $200, or even $300, but I do think the refurbs could get that cheap and they will be available for quite some time, just like the original iPad is now.

Digitimes

Apple to Release 2 iPads in January?

Earlier today Sharis Pozen, the Justice Department’s acting antitrust chief, confirmed in front on a Congressional panel that they had been conducting an investigation since last year.  “We are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general.” And it looks like the Justice Department is investigating the same 5 publishers as everyone else: Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Hachette , and HarperCollins. Once again Random House ducked the noose.

At this point I’m sure my readers all know about Agency pricing, but I feel the need to be redundant today. The Agency Model is a system where publishers set a fixed retail price and collect a 70% cut of that price. Ebookstores are considered to be agents of the publishers and cannot lower the price.

Now, it’s widely accepted that publishers went with Apple’s plan because they feared the growing dominance of Amazon and the Kindle Store.  But what the publishers failed to realize at the time was the weapon that they were handing Apple.

It was the shift to agency pricing that gave Apple a chance to drive their competitors’ ebookstores off of the iPad and iPhone. With over a hundred million eGadgets in use, Apple had a platform that they were able to control ruthlessly (and they did).

Between one day and the next in early January 2011 Apple decided that the ebookstores needed to move all ebook sales inside their apps and pay Apple a 30% fee. Naturally no one could afford this, given that they were only earning that 30%. It would have left them nothing.

One of the indies went under as a result, and a number of iOS developer came close to closing doors. Eventually Apple backed down a degree and settled for making life difficult for their competitors. Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and the other apps could stay, but you couldn’t even tell people that the app was connected to an ebookstore. Apple won’t even let the apps link to online help pages.

And that’s where we re today. To be honest, I don’t understand why the earlier collusion is being investigated but not the later blackmail. I’d have thought that was the greater offense.

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image by barockschloss

US Justice Department Now Looking Into the Price Fix Six

A reader left a comment a few minutes ago that the link was gone. Obviously someone at Amazon Apple reads this blog (I already knew that), because it looks like Amazon Apple made Kobo remove the links. That same post is still there but it was edited to remove the links. I don’t see a reason why Kobo would do that other than Amazon Apple forcing them too.

Call me petty, but I do enjoy making everyone dance to my tune.

Kobo’s secret link to their ebookstore is gone from their iOS app

There’s also a new version of iTunes Producer available. One of the improvements listed is “common EPUB errors can now be fixed automatically”. Liz Castro, my source, isn’t sure what that means. I’m waiting to hear what she says about it when she gets a chance to check it out.

via Pigs, Gourds, & Wikis

Apple posted instructions on creating Read Aloud ebooks