Skip to main content

Microsoft's ebook store is finally coming in April — here's what it looks like

microsoft ebook store news
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple and Google have long offered electronic book stores for users of their services, and it looks like Microsoft is finally making a similar move. The company started building an ebook store for Microsoft 10 last year, but now we have a look at what that store could actually look like.

Images of the new feature were obtained by MSPowerUser through an internal build of Windows 10 Mobile, but the feature will be available on PC as well. The ebook store won’t be it’s own app, but will rather live inside the Windows Store as a new section, where you’ll be able to buy ebooks and manage the ones you already own.

Buying an ebook through the store should be pretty easy, and it will work just like buying anything else — simply find a book you like, then hit the buy button.

The service will also integrate with Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s web browser. Once you buy a book, you’ll be able to open it up and read it straight from Microsoft Edge. In fact, Edge itself will get a new dedicated book section, and in that section you’ll be able to browse through all the books that you’ve purchased. Edge also supports the EPUB ebook format, so if you have ebooks from other stores you’ll be able to read them, bookmark them, and view the table of contents.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a few months before we’ll get to make use of the new feature — it will be added to the Windows 10 Creators Update, which isn’t scheduled to arrive until sometime in April. As mentioned it will be available on both Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows 10 on the PC. Also as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft will sell Windows themes, which will also be available through the Windows Store.

Editors' Recommendations

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
This is what the iPhone 16 Pro could look like
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max renders based on design documentation.

The year has just begun, and we’ve already got an idea of what the next iPhone 16 Pro is going to look like. MacRumors created some new mock-ups based on leaked internal designs from Apple, including prototype devices. Surprise, surprise, they look a lot like the iPhone 15 Pro.

The iPhone 16 Pro looks to be sticking with the curved edges and titanium frame that debuted with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, it does look like the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will have slightly larger display sizes, as well as a new capacitive button that has been rumored to be a “Capture” button.

Read more
This is what an iPhone looks like after a year with no screen protector
Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 14 Pro, with light to show scratches.

Apple says its Ceramic Shield glass over the iPhone’s screen is “tougher than any smartphone glass,” but how accurate is this statement? The Digital Trends Mobile team has each been using one of the iPhone 14 series models for the last year and two of us haven’t put a separate screen protector on, while the third member of the team has. Here’s how the screens have held up — and what we think about Ceramic Shield.

Ceramic Shield was first introduced by Apple on the iPhone 12, and it claimed it went “beyond glass by adding a new high-temperature crystallization step that grows nano-ceramic crystals within the glass matrix, increasing drop performance by 4x.” Apple worked with Corning, the same company that makes Gorilla Glass, which is used on many smartphones from other manufacturers, to produce Ceramic Shield. It’s found on all iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, and now all iPhone 15 models.
iPhone 14 Pro — Andy Boxall
No light shows scratches on the iPhone 14 Pro's Ceramic Shield are invisible Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Read more
OpenAI is on fire — here’s what that means for ChatGPT and Windows
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman standing on stage at a product event.

OpenAI kicked off a firestorm over the weekend. The creator of ChatGPT and DALL-E 3 ousted CEO Sam Altman on Friday, kicking off a weekend of shenanigans that led to three CEOs in three days, as well as what some are calling an under-the-table acquisition of OpenAI by Microsoft.

A lot happened at the tech world's hottest commodity in just a few days, and depending on how everything plays out, it could have major implications for the future of products like ChatGPT. We're here to explain how OpenAI got here, what the situation is now, and where the company could be going from here.

Read more