There has been a question regarding iPhone versions of Srila Prabhupada's books, in a comment to our article Cell Phones and Bhagavad-Gita. When the question was posted I was travelling without regular internet access and couldn't find the answer, which has been posted on the Google group World Sankirtan some time ago: KC books on iPhone 3G (version 2) by Candidasa Prabhu (personal blog). Here is the forum post with download links:

Hare Krishna, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

If you have upgraded your iPhone to the new version 2 software or own a new iPhone 3G, you may have noticed that the free Books.app no longer exists for download. It has been replaced by the "Bookshelf" app (which costs money—but can also be obtained by "other means"). The existing means of installing KC books also no longer works.

I have cleaned and converted the previous HTML books for use with the Bookshelf application on the new iPhone software. You can download all the books (50 MB) here:

www.deltaflow.com/installer/books.zip

This includes Bhagavad-Gita, SD, CC, Brahma samhita, NoI, NoD and Krishna Book (new addition).

You can use the Bookshelf.app in conjunction with something called the "ShelfServer" to transfer the books to your iPhone. See:

www.iphonebookshelf.com/quickstart.php

(be sure to unzip the archive before transfer in order to preserve the folder structure)

Some devotees have reported that the ShelfServer doesn't work for them. If that is the case you will have to jailbreak the iPhone, install OpenSSH and use an FTP program to directly copy the unzipped books' files into the Bookshelf "Documents" folder on the iPhone (/ private/var/mobile/Documents/). Instructions for jailbreaking iPhone:

menoob.com/2008/08/03/download-and-test-iphone-apps-before-buy

Could someone try this out and tell me if it works. If so, I will write a blog post to let more devotees know about this.

your servant,
Candidasa dasa

I don't have a mobile phone whch allows reading of online books; comments about if and how these instructions work would be welcome!