Severely limited iBookstore! Is this India specific?

[Ampress]

All the books available in the iBookstore accessible from my iPad are dated 3rd April 2010 and ALL are free. Why can't i BUY any books? I can buy apps from the apps store, then why not books? Is this only in India?

I know that iTunes store purchases are not available in India, but if apps can be purchased then why the limitation on other e content? And why this limitation on iTunes store? I would like to buy some music.

 

[col.bris]

What iTunes store are you using if India answer is local book companies have not signed an agreement with apple

 

[Ampress]

What iTunes store are you using if India answer is local book companies have not signed an agreement with apple

Well I don't use iTunes store for books. I use iBookstore because that's the only place I can 'buy' books (all free!). And btw these haven't been updated since April 2010. I wish Apple would at least update the free books available.

So do you think local booksellers are objecting to our buying epubs from US or Australia?

When I click on the iTunes app on my home page, only two buttons appear at the bottom of the screen - Podcasts and iTunes U.

 

[ipfuser55]

Seem to be plenty of books available:

India eBooks - Popular Collection of eBooks.

And this app should sort things out for you too


iPad eBook Application Development, iPad Application Development, Apple iPad Application Development, Apple iPad Apps Development, iPad Application Development, iPad Software Development, iPad Application Developers, iPad Application Developer, iPad

 

[Ampress]

Many thanks for the suggestions, but the website is a new start up and still not fully functional. The books available are pathetic anyway. And the other link is not an app at all but an app developers website.

But my question is really about the difference between the iBooks app on my iPad vs other iPads in other locations.

 

[ipfuser55]

We Get

Many thanks for the suggestions, but the website is a new start up and still not fully functional. The books available are pathetic anyway. And the other link is not an app at all but an app developers website.

But my question is really about the difference between the iBooks app on my iPad vs other iPads in other locations.

Pretty much everything to be fair, I've got the app insalled, but don't really read books on it. For me. books are a tactile expeirience as well as being about plot, etc.

I own a few ibooks, but only comedy / light reading stuff. Things like "A Brief History Of Time" just wouldn't work on an ipad. I hope they developers sort things out for you in India, but wonder if it isn't more to do with copyright? Do shops in India sell the Kindle?

 

[kevbo]

You capitalized "all", so I assume you mean that 100% of them are free and older than April 2010 without exception. In this case, I can say with certainty that it must be India specific because there are many books that you need to pay for. iBooks in the USA has all of the latest best sellers.

However, I'd say it doesn't have the selection of a large bookstore like Barnes and Noble though, which is somewhat surprising and disappointing. If you find a place online that sells e-books in ePub format, you can easily import them into iBooks via iTunes. There are many books that I can't find and they aren't exactly rare.

 

[ipfuser55]

You capitalized "all", so I assume you mean that 100% of them are free and older than April 2010 without exception. In this case, I can say with certainty that it must be India specific because there are many books that you need to pay for. iBooks in the USA has all of the latest best sellers.

However, I'd say it doesn't have the selection of a large bookstore like Barnes and Noble though, which is somewhat surprising and disappointing. If you find a place online that sells e-books in ePub format, you can easily import them into iBooks via iTunes. There are many books that I can't find and they aren't exactly rare.

No, my bad typing, we have to pay for most books

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Ampress]

You capitalized "all", so I assume you mean that 100% of them are free and older than April 2010 without exception. In this case, I can say with certainty that it must be India specific because there are many books that you need to pay for. iBooks in the USA has all of the latest best sellers.

However, I'd say it doesn't have the selection of a large bookstore like Barnes and Noble though, which is somewhat surprising and disappointing. If you find a place online that sells e-books in ePub format, you can easily import them into iBooks via iTunes. There are many books that I can't find and they aren't exactly rare.

Thanks, this is the info I was seeking. So I shall now start searching for other sources for books. Yes isn't it strange, 100% are free and yes each one has the same date in Apr 2010. Looks like they just decided to make these copyright free books available on that date and have forgotten about it.

 

[iRuthlessPad]

Why dont u just change ur account to US for books? Or just buy it from some other site in india (there are lots) and sync them via itunes to ibooks? These are the best options!

 

[Ampress]

Thanks Ruthless, this is what I shall do. I quite like the layout of iBooks.

 

[leolaksi]

Thanks Ruthless, this is what I shall do. I quite like the layout of iBooks.

Electronic book transactions are hamstrung by existing agreements between publishers, distributors, governments and others so that each countries selection of books are different. (It's the same over at Amazon too.).

As far as changing stores, you would have to have an address and credit card in that country. Luckily so far Apple does not also look at your IP address in your transactions. Some e-retailers require your address, credit card and IP address to be located in the same country.

Good luck.

 

[Amitt]

Did you register with the us address? Did it solve your issue.

 

[Ampress]

Did you register with the us address? Did it solve your issue.

Not having a US cc I couldn't register with the us store. So therefore stuck with limited choices.

 

[Amitt]

All our cards are international. Isn't it? Is it the address issue? Did it recognise that your cc is Indian?