Apple and Flipboard team up to bring more books to iOS devices

Via Flipboard, the new version of the app also lets users see what titles are popular in other countries.

Grab a coffee, sink into a comfy chair and start browsing the most popular books of the season – all from your phone or tablet.

Thanks to a new partnership between Apple and Flipboard, the mobile app that lets users customize and access news in one place, Apple’s iBookstore is now available for browsing on your iOS device.

The app’s new Books category features 25 genres pulled from Apple’s iBookstore, including Bestsellers, Fiction Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Cookbooks, Humor, Comics & Graphic Novels, and Sci-Fi & Fantasy.

“Reflecting as many genres as there are sections, it’s like browsing in a bookstore, right from your Flipboard,” Flipboard said in its launch announcement.

Here’s how it works: the new Books category is available via Flipboard on all iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil.

All you need to do to activate the free update is swipe down on the red ribbon on the top right-hand corner and tap the Books section. From there, you can drill down to any one of the 25 sections. Want to see what books are popular in other countries? “Tap the red ribbon and scroll down to the country selector in ‘This Week’ to explore books popular in any of these countries,” Flipboard said in its announcement.

As you browse through the sections, you’ll see large graphics of each of the book covers. Tap a cover to unlock information about the book, including author, publisher, summary, and highlights from critics. To purchase, just click to download from the iBookstore; you’ll be taken to iBooks for the actual reading with all its features, including “fully illustrated books like children’s picture books, art books, photo books, and cookbooks,” says Flipboard.

We’re excited about this new collaboration and curious to hear what users’ experiences have been with Flipboard iBooks. If you’ve used it, let us know what you think.

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.