Kindle App for iPhone Launched by Amazon
4 Mar 2009 | Apple | 2 comments
This is interesting. Amazon has launched a free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows users to buy and download books from their e-book store.
So if you don't want to spend $360 on the new Amazon Kindle, you can still have access to over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times' Bestsellers, most of which sell for $9.99 per book.
If you've already purchased an e-book from Amazon, you can download it to your iPhone/iPod Touch for free or switch between the Kindle and iPhone using Whispersync, a feature that syncs the two devices, letting readers pick up where they left off. Users will also be allowed to preview the first chapter of any book before deciding to buy it.
There are tons of other free e-book reader apps available on the iPhone, but nothing comes close to the selection that Amazon has to offer. The company doesn't seem to think that the new Kindle app will result to less Kindle devices being sold. But even if it does, they will probably make enough money from Apple users to recoup the loss.
~ 2 comments ~
Why did it take them so long to come up with this idea? Obviously the money lies inside the selling of the books. They should offer that stupid Kindle for less and people might actually buy it.
A few (hundred (thousand)) of us have bought one. Of course, we read more than probably the average person does.
I've posted a quick overview of the limitations and one added feature of the Kindle Iphone App on my blog:
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/2009/03/kindle-marries-iphone.html
Along with pictures of all three Kindle devices, open to the same book, comparing fonts and graphics between them:
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/2009/03/kindle-iphone-pictures.html