<P> As of July 1, Apple expanded iBooks availability to Canada . </P> <P> Upon its release for older devices running iOS 4, such as the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch, iBooks received criticism for its slow performance . However, a July 19 update from Apple offered several improvements . </P> <P> On September 27, 2011, Apple expanded the premium store to the Republic of Ireland . </P> <P> On January 19, 2012, Apple announced the release of the iBooks 2 app, allowing users to purchase and download textbooks to the iPad . The new app will support digital textbooks that can display interactive diagrams, audio and video on the iPad . Apple also released a free tool called iBooks Author . The software allows users to create these interactive textbooks themselves . </P>

When was the ibook the first e-reader released