Edible Apple

A new report from All Things D, citing a note from analyst Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry, relays that Apple’s foray into the textbook business is off to a rousing start.

According to Global Equities Research, which monitors Apple’s iBook sales via a proprietary tracking system it doesn’t much care to discuss, more than 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from the company’s iBooks Store within the first three days of availability.

And there were some 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author, Apple’s free textbook-creation tool, during the same time.

Color us skeptical, but we’ll wait and see if Apple releases official numbers regarding its new textbook initiative. After all, the company isn’t shy about releasing sales and download figures when they’re worth braging about. Further, we also have a few questions about this alleged proprietary tracking system Global Equities Research claims to have. And lastly, you might recall that Trip Chowdhry back in 2010 boldly predicted that Steve Ballmer, of all people, would be delivering a short speech at WWDC.

It’s also worth noting that one of the 8 textbooks available for download – E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth, is available as a free download (though only the first two chapters are included). One has to wonder, therefore, what percentage of users downloaded the free textbook title and what percentage actually paid for Apple’s new textbooks.