Apple's iPad has already seen a steady flow of interactive book apps, from independent developers and increasingly the digital divisions of book publishers too. Two more have been thrown into the mix in recent days: Our Choice from Push Pop Press, and Gems and Jewels from Touch Press.
Our Choice has a globally recognised frontman: it's an app based on former US vice president Al Gore's latest book on climate change, an update on the themes of his famous An Inconvenient Truth presentation.
The app is the result of a partnership between Gore and his publisher Rodale with producer Melcher Media and apps firm Push Pop Press.
It blends text with photos, animations, interactive graphics and video footage, and brings location into the mix too: tap on the globe icon in one of the many photos, and you'll see its location on a map of the world.
Push Pop Press certainly isn't holding back on the hyperbole, claiming on its website that "Our Choice will change the way we read books. And quite possibly change the world."
It's certainly a different experience to reading an ebook on the iPad. It almost feels wrong to read/use the app while lying in bed – the subject material and multimedia content almost require a more active reading position – yes, that does sound a bit pseudy.
Gems and Jewels is more playful: it's the latest app from Touch Press, who won deserved acclaim for The Elements – which offered a tablet take on the periodic table – and more recently for the Solar System book app they developed for publisher Faber.
It follows the template laid down by The Elements – more than 300 glittery objects to rotate and pinch-zoom, backed with text and live data from the Wolfram Alpha search engine. It's tactile and fun to use. Just as importantly, it has a premium price – ￡7.99 – matching that of The Elements.
Touch Press, Push Pop Press and numerous other developers are doing some important work in fleshing out ideas of how books can translate to touchscreen tablets in more than their basic textual form.
It's notable, too, that it's these developers who are being sought out by Faber and other publishers for partnerships. Much has been written about the success of indie game developers on iOS, but there is just as significant a shift happening in the book-apps genre – one traditional publishers have caught on to quickly.
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