Apple on Thursday finally updated its iBooks app with an iOS 7-style design, nearly two months after the mobile operating system’s release. There’s nothing too exciting about the new look, as it closely mirrors the design of the Newsstand App.
The interface remains largely the same, with books lined five to a row, but gone are the skeuomorphic concepts of wooden book cases and leather bindings. Each book is now displayed on the same frosted glass-style lines as found in Newsstand, and book covers have clean cut borders without the subtle binding effect found in the previous version.
From a reading perspective, all the options remain, such as color themes, bookmarks, and progress bars, but the “virtual book” look of pages and back binding are replaced with a clean edge-to-edge design. One element of skeuomorphism that remains is the virtual page turn animation, a favorite of the late Steve Jobs.
Overall, the new design of iBooks is exactly what we all expected. Those who love the new iOS 7 style will likely enjoy the clean interface, while those who don’t may throw their hands in the air and curse Apple’s new design strategy. In our case, we’ll certainly miss the charm of the original iBooks design, but nothing can stand in the way of Apple’s obsession with “flat.”
Of note, the iTunes U application was updated alongside iBooks. Like iBooks, there are no major changes to the app’s functionality other than the iOS 7 interface overhaul.