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Publishers have hailed as “very exciting” the news that book apps have overtaken games apps for the first time, according to research by mobile phone ad company Mobclix.
More than 27,000 books are now available as apps, with 25,4000 games apps published this year, followed by entertainment, education and travel. Over the past month, book apps have outnumbered games almost two to one, the Guardian reports.
"The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device," said Canongate digital editor, Dan Franklin, "so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting."
"It's a very exciting time," added Penguin digital publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen. However he advised caution in focusing on the number of titles being published: "it's very easy to produce books for the iPhone".
"It's interesting to see what's selling rather than what's being submitted—quite a lot of the books are free downloads, whereas the games tend to be paid for. I'm more interested in what's going out than what's going in."
Franklin also attributed the surge to improvements in Apple's approval processes. "Initially books weren't seen as being top of the pile," he said, but with the launch of the iBookstore and iPad next month, "Apple are now taking more notice of book submissions". He added that the launch will "bring new people to reading like [Apple has] brought new people to music with the iTunes store."