Android gets Kindle App; Analyst downgrades Amazon

Amazon said today that its has released its free Kindle reading app for Android-powered devices, furthering opening the Kindle platform to other platforms but also raising some concerns about the long-term survival of the Amazon's Kindle e-reader.

The app, available for download in the Android Marketplace, is the latest to hit mobile devices, with Kindle apps already available for BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as Windows and Mac computers.

The Android app includes Amazon's Whispersync technology, which saves and syncs books and bookmarks across the various devices. For now, the Kindle app is just a reader but additional features - including full text search and the ability to purchase Kindle books from within the app - will be added soon.

Separately, Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Marinanne Wolk cut her rating on Amazon, according to a post on Barron's Tech Trader Daily blog. Why is Wolk so concerned? Among other reasons, Wolk cites the market share in e-book readers, how the recent price cut will affect profitability and the early momentum of the e-Book space in Apple's iPad.