No series of books in the world commands the prominence that Harry Potter does.
So when Mr. Potter comes to Apple, it's a big deal. An exclusive makes it big enough for Apple to create a custom page just for Harry Potter on iBooks.
For the first time ever, the ebook editions of all seven Harry Potter books are available somewhere other than Pottermore.com. J.K. Rowling's magical novels have come to iBooks in exclusive "enhanced editions."
So what's an enhanced edition? It's not quite on the level of Apple's interactive textbooks, made with iBooks Author. But Harry's enhanced volumes add artwork, animations and annotations written by Rowling herself. The complete text of each book is included too, featuring a new font, new format/layout, and new covers made exclusively for Apple.
Tech Times downloaded samples of Apple's Harry Potter ebooks to test out those enhanced features for ourselves. What we found was extremely limited. There were no annotations anywhere in the samples, and the art and animations were also limited. Hopefully Apple is saving all of the best stuff for those who purchase the full books, which would mean the samples don't paint an accurate representation of what readers can expect. But that's pure speculation.
What are these annotations? They're very likely taken from the extra materials Rowling wrote for Pottermore.
All seven volumes can be purchased from iBooks for $9.99 each. 32 countries have access to them now; 18 additional countries will be able to buy them on November 9, 2015.
Two quick observations:
| 1. Sorcerer's Stone is just 300 pages long. The lengthiest entry, Order of the Phoenix, is nearly 900 pages. That's a radical difference in value that should have been reflected in pricing. 2. Considering that purchasing all seven will run you a whopping $70, Apple would have been smart to offer a discounted "box set" bundle. |
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
