Free Iain Banks Novel On iTunes

According to The Times :

Iain Banks’s latest novel, Transition, is to become the first newly published book to be serialised internationally on iTunes.

Publisher Little, Brown Book Group has agreed a deal with Apple to make an abridged audio version of the novel available as a free podcast.

The first podcast will go live on September 3 when the novel is published. A further 22 episodes, each 15 minutes long, will be released on iTunes in Britain and America every Thursday and Saturday for 12 weeks.

Not sure what “on iTunes” means. If it’s a podcast then won’t it be available elsewhere? Or will you have to “buy” it for free on iTunes and download it?

Either way it seems that novel serialisation is alive and kicking.