Penguin books (http://us.penguingroup.com/) — the U.S. affiliate of the internationally renowned Penguin Group, one of the largest English-language trade book publishers in the world — is looking to be one of the strongest contenders when it comes to ebooks on the iPad, it seems.
Recently, the company offered demos of upcoming books for the iPad. And, according to a report at “paidContent: UK” (http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-first-look-how-penguin-will-reinvent-books-with-ipad/), “many of Penguin’s iPad books seem hardly to resemble “books” at all, but rather very interactive learning experiences, from its Dorling Kindersley and kids imprints –the Vampire Academy ‘book’ is ‘an online community for vampire lovers’ with live chat between readers, and the Paris travel guide switches to street map view when placed on a table.”
“The iPad represents the first real opportunity to create a paid distribution model that will be attractive to consumers,” CEO John Makinson said at the FTs Digital Media & Broadcasting Conference. “The psychology of payment on tablets is different to the psychology on a PC.”
But Penguin’s thinking bigger than just the one device, according to “paid.Content:UK.” Makinson said he sees ebooks hitting 10% of book sales next year. It’s currently around 4% in the U.S.
When Apple announced the iPad, it also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, a way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device.
The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers. The free iBooks app lets you buy books from the iBookstore.
— Dennis Sellers