Amazon to link Kindle with Apple

March 05, 2009|Associated Press

NEW YORK - You may not have the latest $359 Kindle electronic book reader from Amazon.com, but if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, a new application will let you access much of the same content on your Apple device.

In a bid to increase its slice of the e-book market, Seattle-based Amazon.com rolled out a free program yesterday that brings several of its Kindle's functions to the iPod and iPhone's smaller screen.

The program, which can be downloaded from Apple's online application store, lets iPhone and iPod Touch users read the same electronic books that Kindle owners can buy on Amazon.com. As with the Kindle, the iPhone application lets users change the text size on the screen, and add bookmarks, notes, and highlights.

The application does not connect to the Kindle store, however, so users must access the Web browser on their iPhone, iPod, or computer to buy the content.

Users cannot read magazines and newspapers on the Kindle application, either.

If you happen to have a Kindle and an iPhone, Amazon's program will handily sync the two so you can keep your place in the same book on both devices.

The Kindle program isn't the first e-book reader for the iPhone, but it marks the first time Kindle content is available on a cellphone - a move Amazon recently said it would be making, and something that rival Google Inc. is also doing.

It arrives a few weeks after Amazon unveiled the second-generation Kindle, which has the same price tag as its predecessor but is skinnier and includes updated features like more storage space for books and a longer battery life.

READER COMMENTS »

View reader comments » Comment on this story »