Kindle Software Now On iPhone, iPod Touch
Amazon announced on Wednesday it plans to broaden the influence of its widely popular Kindle e-reader by offering an application for users of Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPod Touch.
With the new application, which is available for free on Apple’s online App Store, users will have access to all of the same content that Kindle users can get.
Amazon’s Kindle app also has features that allow changes in text size, adding bookmarks, notes and highlights.
Last month, Amazon unveiled the second edition of the Kindle, which sells for $359. Kindle users have access to purchase more than 230,000 titles for about $9.99 each.
Users of the Kindle iPhone app will have access to the same titles as Kindle users with one exception – Kindle for iPhone does not support newspaper or magazine subscriptions, Amazon said.
Kindle for iPhone also includes WhisperSync ““ a feature that keeps track of where readers left off so that they can return there when they pick their phone up again. WhisperSync will allow users to begin reading a book on their Kindle or Kindle 2 e-reader at home and be able to pick up where they left off on their iPhone.
“We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple’s App Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch,” Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. “Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is a great way for customers to catch up on their current book wherever they are, like in line at the grocery store or between meetings.”
Freed told the AP that Amazon hopes users who get their first Kindle introduction through the iPhone app will be potential Kindle buyers.
He also said that Kindle for iPhone will allow some books to show color ““ a feature not available on the Kindle 2.
According to Bloomberg, Citigroup Inc. analyst Mark Mahaney estimates Amazon.com will make about $1.2 billion in total revenue from the Kindle in the years up to 2010.
Image Courtesy UPI
—
On the Net: