Have you heard the noise about iBooks Author (iBA) recently? Apple are keen for publishers to use this to create beautiful multi-touch books within the iBookstore. Simply (or not so simply) add widgets and your book can include slideshows, videos and dynamic 3-D animation.

And why might you do this? Well, there’s an increasing tendency for Apple to reject book apps for the App Store which might lend themselves better to the iBookstore. The iBookstore is where the competition kicks in with other tablet devices which compete with the iPad for their reading functionality. (hence Apple’s encouragement for publishers to move content to the iBookstore)

So, given the choice and the possibility of ‘rejection’, which is the better option? A book app – or your titles in the iBookstore?

iBA contains features for educational publishing which are second to none. If you play around with the software you’ll realise how beneficial the advanced highlighting and note-taking features, as well as revision flash cards, are.

However, within an app environment, it can be easier to chunk content into bite-size pieces and to monetise accordingly using in-app purchases. If you are keen to build up a community and to measure user metrics then the iBookstore won’t do the trick.

Once your users want to view their content on their iPhone, or on any other device, then all your hard work in iBA is made redundant. However, with the handy app solution the content is easily distributed across all platforms.

What do you think? Which features are most beneficial for your business? It will be interesting to see what Apple’s next moves are and how iBA 2 might be developed.