Digital books have been popular for quite some time, with older Palm and Windows Mobile devices proving their value in stark contrast to printed paper. And the bright, clear screen of the iPhone and iPod touch has encouraged a lot of writers and publishers to harness the electronic word both for free and for profit on the App Store.

According to a survey on Flurry, the popularity of iPhone reading is sky rocketing, and for the first time in September more eBooks (and reading applications) were released on the App Store than games.

Books have always been a close runner-up to games on the iPhone, and with big releases such as Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol receiving its own unique iPhone publication and Marvel Comics going digital with its vast catalogue of comics, it seems the written word now needs to shed the ink if it wants to be read.

Further rumours suggest a lot of the larger newspaper and media companies are in talks with Apple to bring their traditional publications to its new tablet, and even Nintendo has spoken of the benefits of adjusting the DS console to provide a similar, permanently connected service to the Amazon Kindle.