Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch

iBooks.pngDuring quarterly retail meetings that took place today, Apple announced a new ‘iBooks Discovery’ initiative that will see Apple Store employees provided with free iBooks beginning next week in order to prepare the retail workers for the launch of OS X Mavericks and iOS 7, reports 9to5Mac.

While an iBooks app has been available on iOS devices since the debut of the original iPad in 2010, OS X Mavericks will mark the first instance of an iBooks app for the Mac.

The Mavericks version of iBooks offers a number of features that will appeal to readers and students alike, including full screen reading capabilities, note taking functionality, and a feature that allows study cards to be automatically created from notes.

With access to free ebooks, Apple Store employees will be able to familiarize themselves with both the iBookstore and the many features that iBooks offers, allowing the employees to answer customer questions and promote the apps and the new operating systems.

Apple has also provided some of its employees with beta access to OS X Mavericks and recently, it sent out a memo asking its retail workers for innovative ideas on how to improve the iPhone, the retail store environment, and sales techniques.

At a retail summit that took place in early July, Tim Cook announced plans to improve the in-store sales of iPhones, which are considered a “gateway product” to other Apple devices. As part of its push for greater sales, Apple has launched a new iPhone Back to School promotion and has plans for an in-store trade-in program for older devices.

The company also plans to heavily market both iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, which are expected to be released to the public this fall.

Related Forum: OS X Mavericks

Popular Stories

iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 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 simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

Porco Avatar
155 months ago
Too late, went Kindle. Lots of us said so 3 years ago.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
longofest Avatar
155 months ago
iBooks are still crap compared to Amazon's offering. I can get Amazon Kindle books on virtually any platform - iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android, or from the web using the cloud player. iBooks are limited to iOS and only just now Mac.

Plus, I can read the kindle books on an eInk display, which is easier on the eyes than LCD of iOS devices for extended reading.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Daws001 Avatar
155 months ago
I don't understand why it took this long to make iBooks seamless across Apple's ecosystem. I completely ignored the app because it wasn't multi-platform like Kindle. And why isn't Newsstand on Mavericks? Seems like a no-brainer.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WestonHarvey1 Avatar
155 months ago
iBooks are still crap compared to Amazon's offering. I can get Amazon Kindle books on virtually any platform - iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android, or from the web using the cloud player. iBooks are limited to iOS and only just now Mac.

Plus, I can read the kindle books on an eInk display, which is easier on the eyes than LCD of iOS devices for extended reading.

iBooks is a better piece of software than any of the Amazon Kindle readers.

eInk is nice, and I like the lightness of an eInk Kindle, and the fact that I can toss it around and not really care if it gets scratched, being a pretty cheap device.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Santabean2000 Avatar
155 months ago
Should be an exciting few months coming up. Especially looking forward to Mavericks and some better multimonitor functionality.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
demodave Avatar
155 months ago
[url=https://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image (https://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/28/apple-distributing-free-ibooks-to-employees-ahead-of-mavericks-and-ios-7-launch/)[/url]

While an iBooks app has been available on iOS devices since the debut of the original iPad in 2010, OS X Mavericks will mark the first instance (https://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/10/apple-debuts-new-ibooks-and-maps-apps-for-the-mac/) of an iBooks app for the Mac.

Article Link: Apple Distributing Free iBooks to Employees Ahead of Mavericks and iOS 7 Launch (https://www.macrumors.com/2013/07/28/apple-distributing-free-ibooks-to-employees-ahead-of-mavericks-and-ios-7-launch/)

Good deal. I've been hoping/waiting for iBooks to be on the Mac since iBooks 2 was released. While I think that the iPad is a little nicer for mere reading, as a study tool, I can see where having the ability to interact with both a book and a real keyboard on the same device would be quite appealing.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)