Amazon recently made available a free application
for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows you to download and read
books that they have made available on their Kindle e-reader platform.
The application allows you to add bookmarks, enlarge the text, and
easily navigate to sections of your book. If you are a Kindle owner,
any books you have purchased through the Kindle, are also available to
you on your iPhone/iPod Touch. The application talks with your Kindle
account at Amazon and will even keep content on both devices in sync.
For example if you find yourself waiting in line at the DMV, you can
pull out your iPhone and continue reading a book that you started on
your Kindle. When back using your Kindle again, you can start off
reading at the spot you stopped on your iPhone. I have been playing
with the application for a week and find it a nice complement to
reading on the Kindle, but also think it can stand alone. It brings a
large amount of content to a device that I always carry around with
me. Another nice feature of the Kindle content is that Amazon allows
you to download the first chapter of a book. I find this to be a great
feature for when I hear a book being discussed on a radio program, I
can quickly go and grab the first chapter and learn more about the
book and it helps me decide if I want to purchase the book or not.
Considering the price of the Kindle device, having the same content
available on the iPhone and iPod Touch provides Amazon with a larger
market of potential electronic book buyers. Look for Amazon to expand
this to other mobile devices soon.
