Amazon releases Kindle for iPhone app – A free alternative for e-books
By Dave Parrack
The Amazon Kindle is an amazing piece of kit, and one which has brought the age-old hobby of reading books bang up-to-date. But the e-book reader is also an expensive piece of kit, retailing for $359. Which makes the free Kindle for iPhone app an essential download.
For those not yet aware of the Amazon Kindle (or the recently released Kindle 2), it’s one of a number of new e-book readers coming to market. For years, books have been printed and read on paper, and that will likely never die, but there is now at least a viable alternative for the iPod generation.
With the Kindle being essentially an iPod for books, it’s rather fitting that Amazon has seen fit to release a Kindle for iPhone app. This free software available from the App Store turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into an e-book reader, although it cannot compete with the Kindle itself.
The basic function is the same whether using a Kindle or an iPhone, with over 240,000 e-books now readable on your device of choice. However, the screen of the iPhone is a lot smaller than the Kindle’s, meaning reading a whole book by this method may be a bit of a chore rather than a delight.
There are a couple of other differences/problems/issues. Ordering new e-books is more of a pain on the iPhone, with the Web browser being the method of choice rather than the actual store you get on the Kindle. Newspaper and magazine subscriptions are also impossible on the iPhone.
The Kindle also gives you the option to search through the book you’re reading, and has a physical keyboard to make the whole thing a breeze. Search isn’t supported on the iPhone app, which is a disappointment. ZDNet wonders if Amazon have held back certain features so as not to cannibalize sales of their own devices.
Despite these issues, the Kindle for iPhone app is a great addition to the App Store, and a must-have for anyone who wants to try out e-books without committing to the cost of doing so with a dedicated reader.
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March 11th, 2009
It’s a good news for Iphone owner like me, you know I don’t need to buy Kindle 2 to read e-books. I’m glad Amazon made it possible.