Amazon's Kindle comes to the iPhone, iPod touch; More about convenience than Kindlenomics for now
Amazon said Wednesday that it will bring the Kindle to Apple's iPhone and iPod touch.
In a statement, Amazon said it would offer a free application called “Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch." Amazon added that the application--available on Apple's App Store--will sync bookmarks and libraries across Kindle 1, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch (Techmeme). There are a few hangups though. Kindle on the iPhone and iPod touch doesn't support newspapers and magazines. And you can't buy from the Kindle store directly from the iPhone. These wrinkles may be sorted out in future versions of the software.
Also see Matthew Miller: Amazon releases Kindle iPhone application and ebook readers rejoice!
Hands-on image gallery and video of the Amazon iPhone Kindle software
Image Gallery: Amazon Kindle iPhone application brings Kindle content to your phone
Nevertheless, Amazon's rapid fire iPhone announcement following the launch of the Kindle 2 explains why the company downplayed the cross-platform syncing--arguably the latest Kindle's most important feature.
The App Store Kindle application will allow customers to get the entire Kindle library--roughly 240,000 books. Amazon's iPhone application will allow users to access their library, adjust text sizes, and add bookmarks and view notes.
This move makes a lot of sense for Amazon--after all, the Kindle is really about selling more books. And it appears that Kindlenomics means being cross-platform. This announcement complicates my plans for a next generation Kindle, which I ruled out based on price. Would an iPod touch work as well for me? Perhaps, but the lack of newspapers and magazines is a hangup for me.
Here's a lookat three screen shots from Matthew's gallery:
The sync:
The text on the screen:
And the cover:
And video of Matthew's review:
Also see: Micro-Kindlenomics: My cost benefit analysis
- Kindlenomics: Keep publishers and authors happy (cave once in a while)
- Why did Amazon downplay the most important part of Kindle 2?
- Amazon's Kindle 2: 5 burning questions