03-04-2009, 06:41 AM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London, Saint-Tropez, Bermuda, Moscow
Posts: 5,289
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iPhone Kindle App now available. Download books from Amazon to your iPhone.
I just got my Kindle 2 today and love it. I know a lot of you have iPhones so you may be interested in this...
Quote:
Kindlers can now read their e-books on the iPhone. Amazon has pushed a Kindle application to the iTunes Apps Store barely a week after the Kindle 2 appeared. We wouldn?t be surprised if the launches were supposed to be simultaneous and the iPhone reader was just delayed by Apple?s problematic vetting process.
The application, like the Kindle itself, is only available in the US of A, which sadly makes sense: you?ll need a US-only Kindle account to use it. The app just grabs the books already bought from Amazon and you can read samples and even buy e-books from the iPhone.
Kindle for iPhone also supports Whispersynch, grabbing updates over the air and letting you read your books on various devices. It even supports auto-bookmarking, so you can put down your Kindle, head out to the shops and seamlessly continue reading on your iPhone as you wait at the checkout.
I?m outside of the US, so I can?t try it. According to Daring Fireball?s John Gruber, though, the page turning is a little clunky. Unlike Stanza, where you just touch the side of the page to flip to the next, the Kindle app requires a finger swipe every single time. With the tiny page size of the iPhone?s screen, this will get old pretty fast.
Still, it's free, and I want it. I also want a Kindle. Sometimes it sucks not living in the US. But hey, at least we have Spotify.
UPDATE: Gadget Lab reader Hunter just got in touch to tell us about the new application. He's in Japan right now, but his US iTunes account means that he can download and use the Kindle app. Here's what he told us:
I'm in Tokyo...and have had no trouble using the new iPhone Kindle app.
I have an Amazon Kindle account on a US credit card with a US billing address and get books through the Kindle download-to-computer the normal way. I got the free app about 3 pm today and immediately got access to my 47 already-purchased Kindle books.
I just ordered another (on my computer) and after turning off the iPhone Kindle app and turning it back on again, the new book was registered on it. Took about 2 minutes from order to on my phone.
So yes, you CAN use this app outside the States, and it appears to coming over the wireless connection with my Apple MacBook Pro. Or over Apple Airport. I will be experimenting to see if it also can come over the normal 3G iPhone network.
By way of evidence, see below for an image I snapped a little while ago of a friend's book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200298480
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/M...302584613&mt=8
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http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/0...-brings-k.html |
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