iBooks 3 Expected to Launch Alongside iPad Mini?

With the upcoming Apple launch event happening on October 23, analysts and Apple-geeks alike are looking forward to whatever news may come. While chances seem good that there will be a refresh for the Mac Mini and a Retina-equipped 13-inch MacBook Pro, a listing found in iTunes is “directly referencing iBooks 3.0 as a requirement.”

An upgrade for iBooks makes sense when you consider that a smaller form-factor iPad is likely to be used heavily as a tool for reading with.

It could be possible that this discovery is somehow just an error, but because this iTunes-embedded text isn’t something that can be entered by developers, that isn’t likely. If this isn’t the result of a mistake, and publications will actually ‘require’ iBooks 3, it raises the question of what may be included with the upgrade that is so drastically or fundamentally different.

Expectations for the app upgrade include visual enhancements, a larger library (particularly for textbooks and other educational materials) and an improved interface that rivals the other same-sized (and more-experienced) digital readers.

Fortunately with the event just a few short sleeps away, we don’t have long to wait to find out all the details!

Which launch-related rumor are you most looking forward to?

[via TheNextWeb]