With Apple apparently being on an App Store-cleanup spree, having recently removed ‘sex-themed’ apps and initiating a clamp down on the excessively basic ‘cookie-cutter’ apps, the next target of Apple’s purge reportedly might be – Books!

The buzz about books being the next segment to feature on Apple’s chopping block probably owes its origin to the fact that the company will soon release its own iBooks app, alongside the forthcoming launch of its iPad.

Moreover, out of the App Store’s nearly 150,000 apps, books account for a whopping 27,000 and are the most popular category of App Store apps - thereby marking their too plentiful availability somewhat troublesome for Apple, especially at a time when books are increasingly being perceived as redundant due to the growing appeal of the e-book devices.

Even though its is not likely that Apple will remove the entire multitude of books available on the App Store, it is highly possible that the company will work out a new approach to alter the way books are treated on the platform.

If Apple does go in for a change in the ‘books’ scenario on the App Store, it would probably find some middle ground between their abundant availability and removal – the company might decide to ‘hide’ book apps from iPad search results, keeping them an iPhone-only option alone; or it might start blocking new book submissions, leaving the existing apps as they are!