Apple Raising iBookstore Visibility by Exhibiting at BookExpo America for the First Time

bookexpo americapaidContent reports that Apple is looking to increase the visibility of its iBookstore by participating in the upcoming BookExpo America trade show with a booth in a "prime location" on the exhibit floor. The booth marks Apple's first appearance at the event and a rare appearance by the company at a third-party trade show, especially since its effort to essentially eliminate such participation that culminated in the company exiting Macworld Expo several years ago.

The company has a large booth in a prime location, next door to Scholastic and in the same area as major publishers including Random House, Disney (NYSE: DIS) Book Group and Macmillan. BEA's website notes that Apple will be represented by Scott Simpson from Apple's iBookstore.

Apple is not expected to make any particular product or service announcements at the conference, and is likely attending simply to raise its profile in the e-book market as it seeks to grow share competing against such major players as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Update: A BEA representative has clarified with paidContent that Apple will not be exhibiting publicly at BookExpo America, only meeting privately with publishers at the event. Apple continues to be listed on the BEA site as an "exhibitor", but other details promoting the company's presence have been removed.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
ios 26 1 slide to stop

iOS 26.1 Brings Back 2007 Feature in New Way

Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important. Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped. The new ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
M5 MacBook Pro

Waiting for New Macs? Apple Just Shared Bad News

Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year. Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
apple tv hd

Apple Launched Its Big New Vision for TV 10 Years Ago Today

Thursday October 30, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device. The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...

Top Rated Comments

bmturney Avatar
189 months ago
really want to raise iBooks visibility???

Lower prices... when I can buy the Kindle version of a book (that I can read in the Kindle app on my iPad) from Amazon for 30% less than in the iBookstore... I won't be buying many (if any) books through the iBookstore
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
logandzwon Avatar
189 months ago
Apple needs three things in this market;
- iBooks needs to be readable on the desktop.
- The need to add content.
- They need to competitive with their pricing.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
189 months ago
I'm not confident that Apple can win this market. I'm a big Apple fan but I still prefer the look of e-Ink and the simplicity of a single purpose eBook reader.

If Apple begins selling standard format ePub books, that I can interchange between my eReader an iPad and an iPhone, I think that the iBookstore would do better.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
189 months ago
Maybe apple will expand their itunes application on the computer to gain access to the store, it would make sense.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macUser2007 Avatar
189 months ago
Lower prices... when I can buy the Kindle version of a book (that I can read in the Kindle app on my iPad) from Amazon for 30% less than in the iBookstore... I won't be buying many (if any) books through the iBookstore
Yeah, well. The prices at Amazon and other ebook retailers would have been even lower, if Apple had not tried to muscle its way in by getting in bed with the publishers and pushing the agency model, which forbids retailers like Amazon to drop prices lower than allowed by the publishers.

Apple has been an evil force in the ebooks market.

Oh, and what happened to Steve Jobs' "Nobody reads anymore...?"

(I do like eInk much better for pure reading - I don't read at all on my iPad anymore).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Daveoc64 Avatar
189 months ago
I've seen this comment so many times its laughable.

Apple DO NOT set the price of the books, the Publishers do - and the price the publisher sets is the price it sells for, not a penny more. Amazon DO NOT set the price of the books, the Publishers do. Amazon DO sometimes (but not always), add fees for things like "whispernet delivery". Stop blaming Apple or Amazon or anyone else and look to the publishers. They, and ONLY they, set the price.
Apple forces publishers to use the agency model (where Publishers control the price of books).

Amazon has been very vocal in opposing the agency model, and here in the UK and EU it's under investigation as being anti-competitive.

Due to its questionable legal status, and some publishers not liking the model overall, not ALL publishers use it (those that don't use it aren't allowed on the iBookstore)

For those publishers that do not use the model, Amazon's pricing is generally much lower than its competitors.

To say that Apple doesn't set the price is true, but it's not really showing the whole picture - it was their idea to let publishers set the price in the first place.

Amazon DO sometimes (but not always), add fees for things like "whispernet delivery".
Amazon never adds fees for delivery.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)