Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Twitter, and Facebook, as well as Chinese social networks Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo
(assuming you enabled a Chinese keyboard). You can also tap Copy Link.
Of course, the best thing you can do to determine whether a book is worth buying is to read a
sample. Tap Sample, and the topic cover almost immediately lands on your bookshelf. You can read
it like any book, up until that juncture in the topic where your free sample ends. Apple has placed a
Buy button inside the pages of the topic to make it easy to purchase it if you're hooked. The word
Sample
is plastered on the cover on the bookshelf, to remind you that this book isn't quite yours —
yet.
Buying a book from iBooks Store
Assuming that the topic meets or exceeds your lofty standards, and you're ready to purchase it,
here's how to do so:
1.
Tap the price shown in the gray button on the topic's information page.
Upon doing so, the dollar amount disappears, and the button becomes green and carries a
green Buy Book label. If you tap a free book instead, the button is labeled Get Book.
2.
Tap the Buy Book/Get Book button.
3.
Enter your iTunes password (if you're prompted) to proceed with the transaction.
The topic appears on your bookshelf in an instant, ready for you to tap it and start reading.
You get an e-mail receipt acknowledging your purchase via the same mail account in which
you receive other receipts from iTunes for music, movies, and apps.
If you buy another book within 15 minutes of your initial purchase, you aren't promp-
ted for your iTunes password again.
Buying books beyond Apple
The business world is full of examples where one company competes with another on some level,
only to work with it as a partner on another level. When the iPad first burst onto the scene in early
April 2010, pundits immediately compared it to Amazon's Kindle, the market-leading electronic
reader. Sure, the iPad had the larger screen and color, but the Kindle had a few bragging points too,
including a longer battery life (up to about a month on the latest Kindle, versus about ten hours for
the iPad), lighter weight, and a larger selection of books in its online bookstore.
But Amazon has long said that it wants Kindle books to be available for all sorts of electronic plat-
forms, and the iPad, like the iPhone and iPod touch before it, is no exception. So, we recommend
taking a look at the free Kindle app for the iPad, especially if you've already purchased a number of
books in Amazon's Kindle Store and want access to that wider selection of titles.
