Sam Oliver
This optimized Kindle store offers both iPhone and iPod touch users easier access to browse and download from Amazon's library of more than 280,000 Kindle formatted books.
"Now when users of the Kindle for iPhone app click on 'Get Books,' the new Kindle Store tailored for the size and shape of the iPhone and iPod touch screens automatically opens in Safari," the retailer said.
Released March 4th, the Kindle for iPhone application quickly became the most popular books application on Apple's App Store. It ties into Amazon's 3G Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes Kindle customers’ bookmarks across Kindles, iPhones and iPod touches, so users never lose their place. For instance, users can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle device, or vise versa.
"The response to Kindle for iPhone has been tremendous," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "The most common feedback we heard from customers was that they wanted a better experience for purchasing new Kindle books from their iPhones."
The iPhone optimized Kindle store is the latest in a string of Kindle-related announcements from Amazon geared towards building electronic books into a more material piece of its business. Last week, the retailer introduced the latest member of its Kindle family of devices: a big-screen DX model suited for more natural display of textbooks, magazines and newspapers.
Amazon in recent weeks also scooped up the developer of Stanza, a popular iPhone application that provides users with 24-hour access to a catalog of over 100,000 eBooks in the open ePub format, an eBook container not supported by its Kindle devices.
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
15 Comments
Optomized?
Heheh...
EDIT: They corrected it.
I wish the Kindle store was easier to browse. It was be nice to browse by author and just get a long list of names (in a given genre). The way it works now at Amazon, you select a genre, and then a sorting criteria (by rating, for instance), and then you get drip-fed a very short list, then you click next to get another very short list. I've been sometimes frustrated with the iTMS browsing feature (because I used to be able to go to audiobooks, pick a genre, and say "all" to see all the books... there's too many now). But it's so much better than Amazon's Kindle store.
I think they understand very well that a large number of their book buyers will be from Apple products. Perhaps the majority will be from Apple's products.
I've only read one book on Kindle for Iphone so far: iWoz, by Steve Wozniak. Good insight to the early years of Apple. Kind of inspirational for engineers! He basically says don't let a committee mess up your good ideas!
It was a good experience. Less money than a printed version, no dragging a book with you - it's always there. I'll do it again. I've also used the free bookreader for iPhone. Very good if you can find something you are interested in.
Let's hope that, going forward, Amazon will support the ePub format in addition to its proprietary formats.