Status and Trend of E-book Applications for iOS Devices: A Developer's Perspective

Abstract

Modern smart mobile devices offer media-rich and native features that are highly useful for e-book applications. In particular, many e-book application developers have chosen Apple's iOS mobile devices such as iPad, or iPhone as the target device to provide more creative and richer user experience, as evidenced by the rapidly increasing number of publication apps in Apple's App Store. In this paper, three major types of e-book apps from the App Store were examined from a developer's perspective to provide a focused overview of the status and trends of iOS e-book apps and an analysis of related technology, architecture, and user interface design issues. The three representative e-book apps were analyzed according to their purposes, functions, and user satisfaction, so that user interface design guideline is established for the developer implementation. It was clear that e-book apps still had plenty of room to grow to take full advantage of unique mobile platform features and truly fulfill their potential. In particular, introduction of two-or three-dimensional visualization and context-awareness for the behavior component could further enhance e-book app's usability and utility. This paper aims to serve as a reference point and guide for developers and practitioners interested in using iOS as a platform for e-book applications, particular from the technical point of view.