With Apple's introduction of iBooks 1.1 today, there's simply no reason not to get your intellectual game on.

The latest edition of the software allows iPhone and iPod touch users to get in on the party--you'll be able to download the App to your handset or player, provided you're rocking iOS 4. If you've already started an iBook library for your iPad, you'll be able to sync it to your other iBook capable devices with minimal frustration. There's little doubt however, that while the convienience of having your library at your fingertips, no matter which device you have on you at any given time is a bonus, you're gonna miss the comfortably large reading space afforded by the iPad's screen.

Version 1.1 also introduces the ability to sync PDF documents on to your bookshelf, and read them in the application. You'll also be able to download PDFs from your device's Mail app and read them immiediately via iBooks. iPad users making the jump to using the App on their iPhones will also find that the things that make the reader an enjoyable application to use, such as phrase, word, and character searches, as well as page scrubbing, highlighting, and the option to chase the size of text and typeface have all remained intact in the transition down to a smaller appliance.

With Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble now all providing an iPhone application that also acts as a gateway to their electronic bookstores, it'll be interesting to see how the market gets divvied up in the months to come.

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