A notable omission from the iBooks library has been Harry Potter, the most successful literary book series. JK Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, has kept eBook rights exclusive to her own website until today. This morning, Apple announced that all seven of the books are finally available to buy in the iBooks app to be read on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
The books include more than just the text of the story. The ‘enhanced editions’ feature brand new interactive elements, animations, ‘elaborate’ artwork, notes from the author and exclusive covers.
Here’s links to all of the books:
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In a press release, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store.
“I’m thrilled to see the Harry Potter books so beautifully realised on iBooks for the digital world; the artwork and animations in these enhanced editions bring the stories alive in a delightful new way,” said J.K. Rowling.
“Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “J.K. Rowling’s legendary series is perfect for enjoying on your iPad or iPhone and we’re thrilled to offer them exclusively on the iBooks Store.”
Until now, the Harry Potter digital books have only been available for readers to purchase through the Pottermore Shop. Starting today, iBooks® users can experience the books with all new exclusive custom covers for each title, and typography including the custom Harry Potter typefaces and new section headers and drop caps.
The exclusive-content ebooks are priced at $9.99 each and are availably today in the United States, the United Kingdom and 30 more countries. iBooks will be bringing Harry Potter to more languages in November. Preorders for French and Spanish versions start today.
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It’s a shame you can’t buy these without an iTunes U.S. account… :(
Not sure why you say that…
The exclusive-content ebooks are priced at $9.99 each and are availably today in the United States, the United Kingdom and 30 more countries. iBooks will be bringing Harry Potter to more languages in November. Preorders for French and Spanish versions start today.
Reading books in your second language – when you’re fairly good at it, that is – a great way to improve your vocabulary. Just that.
Anybody wanna donate $70 to me please????????? xoxoxoxo
Well, looks like I can add Harry Potter books to my list of things like “Star Wars Movies” – Something I will end up paying for again for the smallest sliver of newness…
…and I wonder why these companies continue to do this…
I just bought these books. The new art is great, but 70 bucks for all the books is too steep a price. And considering that I just bought the illustrated version of Sorcerer’s Stone yesterday. HP is gonna make me poor. 😐😐😐
We did too! And will get the rest as they are released.
It’s just a shame they didn’t release the new illustrated version as an iBook, the illustrations in this version seem amateur in comparison!
They will in 2021 – which is when they will also release the boxed set of the Illustrated Editions. They are only coming out one a year!
I think they could have taken this a step further with all the moving pictures in the story, etc.
Not available in English in Spain, sadly :/