ibooks_iconIn Apple's ongoing antitrust case with the Department of Justice, Apple's SVP of internet software and services Eddy Cue once again took the stand today, where he revealed several small tidbits about Steve Jobs and the launch of iBooks.

According to AllThingsD, Cue told the court that Jobs was highly involved in the creation of Apple's iBookstore, coming up with several of the features found in the app.

- The "page curls" in the iBook app, which show up when you flip an iBook's page? That's Steve Jobs's idea.

- It was Jobs's idea to pick ""Winnie-the-Pooh" as the freebie book that came with every iBook app. Not just because Jobs liked the book, Cue said, but because it showed off iBook's capabilities: “It had beautiful color drawings, that had never been seen before in a digital book."

- Jobs was also specific about the book he used to show off the iBook during his initial iPad demo in January 2010. He picked Ted Kennedy's "True Compass" memoir, because the Kennedy family "meant a lot to him," Cue said.

Over the course of the trial, the Department of Justice has argued that Apple colluded with book publishers to drive up the cost of e-books while Apple maintains its innocence. The DOJ has seen several weak links in its case over the course of the last week, after Apple refuted a partially composed email and a DOJ-called Google exec offered questionable testimony. Closing arguments for the trial are set for Thursday.

Top Rated Comments

Eminemdrdre00 Avatar
160 months ago
I wonder if those page curls will go away when iBooks gets updated for iOS 7? There were some things about the old skeuomorphism designs that didn't bother me as much as most people. That was one of them.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mohammad Ridwan Avatar
160 months ago
I hope Jony Ive doesn't ******* this app up too...
Page curl is my favorite feature of iBooks.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
160 months ago
^^ agreed. Not everything that makes it look realistic is "bad".
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJ Reilly Avatar
160 months ago
Darn, I was hoping for some large tidbits.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TimTheEnchanter Avatar
160 months ago
I guess the real question is what will happen to the wooden bookshelf?

Jonathan already bought a new one from IKEA. ;)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nagromme Avatar
160 months ago
I wonder if those page curls will go away when iBooks gets updated for iOS 7? There were some things about the old skeuomorphism designs that didn't bother me as much as most people. That was one of them.

The effect is familiar, iconic, and everyone expects it in all ereaders. It's also optional already. I expect it to stay.

Same for the GarageBand instruments; menus/chrome may change, but a lot of the UI should stay looking like an instrument.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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