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Amazon's Kindle for iPhone: First Look
Amazon is going to be selling a heck of a lot more Kindle books very, very soon. With the launch of the Kindle app for iPhone, the online bookseller just opened up their entire Kindle library to folks who already own one expensive mobile device -- the iPhone -- and aren't willing to shell out for another -- Amazon's own Kindle. The kicker is that Kindle for iPhone works like a charm. I tested out buying some books from MobileSafari and then from my Mac, and it was a seamless experience. With a single click, your book is sent via Amazon's WhisperSync to your iPhone or iPod Touch, ready to be opened the next time you use the Kindle app.
So, how's the reading experience on the iPhone screen? It's obviously much smaller than the Kindle's display, but reading is easy. Turning pages on the touchscreen interface is a breeze, and you can resize the text to suit your needs. Navigating between books and within books is intuitive, too. Tap on a page to bring up menu items and navigation, including the ability to bookmark your current page. Kindle will also pick up where you left off if you accidentally close the app while you're reading.
Overall, Kindle for iPhone is everything it needs to be to satisfy picky iPhone users who were reluctant to buy the Kindle device because of its steep pricetag and notorious form-factor. This way, everyone wins: iPhone and iPod Touch users get books on the go, Apple gets another selling point for its already-hot mobile device, and Amazon gets the profits.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsJWWMar 4th 2009 10:25AM
US only.
Come on Amazon, Canadians are people, too.
LisaMar 4th 2009 10:45AM
In the great wide world of rockin' iPhone / touch apps, this totally wins. I was thisclose to buying a Kindle but the price tag was killing me. The e-readers I could find in the App store sorta sucked, this is totally awesome. Feeeling kinda bad for all the iPhone owners who bought the K1 (or, worse, the K2). I'd comment more but I've got books to read.
MatMar 4th 2009 11:06AM
Where's the Android love?
MarkMar 5th 2009 1:46PM
I don't see anything to get excited about. Other iPhone reader apps are much easier to use when finding/uploading books. They need dedicated iPhone store access - couldn't find free samples in Amazon store (via safari) to see how it worked; iKindle mentioned them when opening app, but once I logged into Amazon w/ my ID, the references disappeared.
Why should I have to log on with a regular PC to find stuff? Browsing on iPhone w/ safari for any length of time is a PITA.
Knee jerk response - poorly thought out and half-developed app. Might work well, but based on initial experience, I won't be finding out anytime soon, it seems...
gladMar 10th 2009 5:43PM
Amazon have hit the ball out of the park with this one it's a definite win-win and there are eager customers in other countries waiting for the app to come to them. However I assume that Amazon has do deals with publishers for each country before it can open up the market.