Since it’s introduction last year, Apple’s iBooks Author app has only supported the creation of iBooks for iPad, but some new evidence on Apple’s website suggests iPhone support might be on its way soon.
Apple’s added ebook support for the iPad mini and previewed the arrival of iBooks for Mac WWDC, leaving the iPhone as the only major Apple device that can’t view ebooks created with Apple’s proprietary software. However, Serenity Caldwell at Macworld noticed some curious changes to Apple’s requirements message:
In the past, viewing an iBooks Author-created ebook online or via iTunes displayed the following message under the heading of ‘requirements’: “This book can only be viewed using iBooks 3.0 or later on an iPad. iOS 5.1 or later is required.”
While this message still shows up on the Web, visit an iBooks Author book in the iTunes Store and you’ll see the following: “To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 3.0 or later and iOS 5.1 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.”
While the change doesn’t mention iPhone support specifically, the new message isn’t accurate because iPhones and iPod Touches still can’t view ebooks created with iBooks Author. The message also suggests that OS X 10.9 Mavericks will be available soon.
Apple is expected to announce the official release date for iOS 7 at its upcoming keynote on September 10th. A redesigned iBooks app hasn’t been previewed yet, but we imagine those wooden shelves are about to get a renovation along with some new features.
Source: Macworld
