Apple is allegedly working on a major redesign for its iBooks app for iPhone and iPad and iBooks Store, bringing a few new features like a Reading Now section, audiobooks and more.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Thursday reported on the upcoming iBooks revamp.
With help from an ex-Amazon executive whom Apple hired back in December, they’re reportedly looking to completely redesign iBooks with a simplified interface and an updated book store.
The app, which is currently in testing, includes a dedicated tab for audiobooks, as well as a brand new Reading Now section.
Apple hopes to reposition itself to better compete once more against Amazon, who has continued to be the leader in sales of digital books. Currently, Amazon controls 83% of the US e-book market as of early 2017, with that number continuing to rise.
Since Apple and publishers lost the massive $450 million lawsuit from the US Department of Justice, we haven’t heard much in the way of iBooks.
The effort is led by Kashif Zafar, who was previously a senior vice president at Amazon-owned Audible. The app may be rebranded as “Books,” the report added.
With iOS 11.3, Apple is dropping the “i” from iBooks.
Indeed, we recently saw in the initial iOS 11.3 beta that Apple dropped the “i” from iBooks following a new strategy it’s taken with new products and services. Apple Music, HomePod and Apple Watch all neglected to include the iconic character Apple used to be known for.
Are you looking forward to a new version of iBooks?
Let us know in the comments.