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Amazon releases Kindle application for iPhone/iPod touch

Mar. 4, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

As rumored, Amazon has released a free iPhone/iPod touch application that can access all of the Kindle eBook content.

Amazon.com today introduced "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch," a new application available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. Amazon's new Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmark across their original Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch, so customers always have their reading with them and never lose their place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle or Kindle 2.

"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," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "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."

The Kindle application for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go and takes full advantage of Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. With the new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch application, customers can:

  • Shop for hundreds of thousands of books on their Kindle or online at http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore, and wirelessly transfer the books to their iPhone or iPod touch
  • Access their entire library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers
  • Adjust the text size of books
  • Add bookmarks and view notes and highlights

Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

While iPhone access is nice, and probably necessary for the success of the Kindle platform, I would just caution people to not spend too much time reading books and periodicals on that device. The screen type will eventually cause eye strain, something that doesn't happen on the Kindle device.

Discuss this Article 9

Ocean
on Mar 4, 2009
Epic win for Amazon. Big win for the iPhone/iTouch platform. That this was released first for the iP/T platform tells you of the platforms clout. >I would just caution people to not spend too much time reading books and periodicals on that device.< Just like people shouldn't spend too much time reading their email on their Blackberry.
Ocean
on Mar 4, 2009
Review: >>It doesn’t support periodicals. It doesn’t read books aloud. It doesn’t allow you to enter notes or highlight text, look up words in a dictionary, or perform searches...it lacks a built-in Kindle store. -- In two key respects, using the iPhone app seems superior to using a Kindle. First, the iPhone’s screen is brighter, and supports color, so book covers and illustrations in my test books looked much better on the iPhone than they did on the Kindle. Second, the iPhone is smaller and thus much more portable. The new Kindle app isn’t as full-featured as some other e-reader apps for the iPhone, which do allow annotation, searching, and so forth. But it gets the job done and it gives you access to Amazon’s large catalog, which contains more popular and current commercial titles than other e-book sellers offer. If you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch owner who has yearned for a Kindle but balked at its $359 price, or a Kindle owner with an iPhone or Touch already, this new Kindle app is a good bet, even if it is bare-bones.<< http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20090303/first-impressions-of-kindle-on-i...
BrightrevCarl
on Mar 4, 2009
It's a very good companion to the Kindle, but is not a substitute because the screen is too small.
tayme
on Mar 4, 2009
I for one, would never want to use a device such as an iPod/iPhone, Zune, or anything with that small of a screen to read a book. A 500 page paperbook would be like 7,000 pages long on a screen that small. My eye balls would fall out of their sockets! That's me though...if others like it...then that is fine. Oh, and Ocean - you should check out http://wordpress.com You can start your own blog for free there! --tayme
lotsamystuff
on Mar 4, 2009
"The screen type will eventually cause eye strain, something that doesn't happen on the Kindle device." I can get eye strain from reading a paperback or a computer screen. Does the Magic Kindle eliminate this possibility? It's a medical breakthrough! No worries, though. I'll buy a pair of reading glasses with the money I save by not having to buy the Kindle. If it gets really bad, I'll pick up some aspirin. Heck, If I pick up both at the Dollar Store, I'll still have $350 and change left to buy books. Seems like a good deal to me. "I for one, would never want to use a device such as an iPod/iPhone, Zune, or anything with that small of a screen to read a book." Years ago, I used my PalmPilot to read e-books. Far from a perfect solution, but not unacceptable either. You get used to things pretty quickly. Ocean: You committed the cardinal sin of quoting Mossberg on this site. Never mind that he's very fair in his review--and right.
Ocean
on Mar 4, 2009
Here is a better, more in-depth review: Kindle for iPhone: Disappointing. Yet Still Amazing. http://technologizer.com/2009/03/04/kindle-for-iphone-disappointing-yet-...
tayme
on Mar 4, 2009
@"lotsamystuff" - I find the small screens great for reading quick emails and text messages, but htere is no way that I personally could use a 3.5 inch screen to read anything longer than that...I don't care how many magic finger gestures I can do to manipulate the screen. But like I said before...that's me. --tayme
chuckb84
on Mar 4, 2009
This is a breakthrough app for the iPhone and a smart, smart move by Amazon, similar to the moment that Apple put iTunes on Windows. As Paul loves to point out, most iPod customers are Windows users, and now most Amazon ebook buyers will be iPhone/Touch owners rather than Kindle owners. It's all about the content, and now you can get all the best content for the iPhone. The reasonable objections to the Kindle app are typical of a 1.0 release, all fixable, some of them pretty trivial fixes. It's a good day to be an iPhone user.
yert
on Mar 4, 2009
Plus the Kindle uses less power. But for people without a Kindle, this app might be nice for on the go reading (of course, I would normally suggest an audio book for that).

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