Amazon Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch Now in the iTunes App Store
Amazon’s Kindle App for iPhone and iPod touch is now live in the App Store. It allows access to hundreds of thousands of Amazon Kindle format e-books (we assume the whole 200K plus library).
The Amazon Kindle for iPhone app is FREE (iTunes Link), but it looks like books need to be purchased from Amazon directly via PC or Mac and transferred over, or from the iPhone via Mobile Safari. Most e-books should run $9.99. Like with the Kindle device itself, you can sample first chapters for free, adjust text size and bookmark. You can’t annotate but you can view Kindle annotations.
Whispersync is also enabled so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch to the iPhone, and basically go back and forth without losing your place. Books you’ve already purchased for the Kindle, of course, can be placed on the iPhone or iPod touch as well.
Note: Per Dieter, this doesn’t seem to be showing up on the iPhone App Store app yet, and — of course — it’s not available (yet?) in the Canadian App Store (or any international App Store?)
Any Kindle users out there ready to test this out and let us know how it’s working?
March 4th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Its in the app store as of 9:00 PM PST 3/3/09
March 4th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Great blog post. Thank you! Downloading and installing.
March 4th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Definitely reposted this, thanks for the prompt update. http://mlapida.com/blog/2009/3/4/kindle-app-for-the-iphone-released.html
March 4th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Whoo hooo engadget linked to you guys hahah. Is there a reason to even buy a kindle now? Iphone has been an e-book reader since day one
March 4th, 2009 at 1:04 am
I have no clue how Amazon could possibly launch this Killer App silently. The applause is yours at iphoneblog!
March 4th, 2009 at 1:15 am
This will be great, access to all the new content on kindle for iphone. I wonder if there will be any color enabled for content that would be black and white on the kindle device.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:22 am
@peter Book covers are in color – not sure about illustrations though, as I don’t have any books containing any
March 4th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Not available in Swedish store yet. Annoying.
March 4th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Works ok so far. There’s no way to purchase books directly from the app itself. Here’s my quick review with screenshots :
http://www.treotoday.net/2009/03/04/kindle-iphone/
March 4th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Not available In France either…
March 4th, 2009 at 4:22 am
Some more pictures and analysis are available on http://www.blogkindle.com
March 4th, 2009 at 4:38 am
Not available in the Australian app store yet.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Not available in either the UK nor New Zealand app store.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Still not available in the UK ITunes store
March 4th, 2009 at 5:37 am
I would assume it won’t be available in international iTunes stores, as the Kindle ecosystem is currently a US-only proposition.
March 4th, 2009 at 7:16 am
No Uk version yet
Surprised not to see apple step into the e-book distribution/reader market! iPhone and iTunes are fully optimised to deliver the goods…
March 4th, 2009 at 7:43 am
not available in GER-store
March 4th, 2009 at 7:57 am
amazone clients outside the US (with no US-Creditcards) are not able to buy books at amazone.com and we dont’t know yet when we will offer our products to EU-countries (Christine Höger, Amazon Germany)
March 4th, 2009 at 7:57 am
I’m in Japan and I had no trouble accessing the app, or using it to access my previously purchased Kindle books (x47), or buying Stephen King’s “UR” through my Mac laptop this afternoon and reading it on my iPhone. I have a US billing address and US credit card and that’s all it takes, apparently. I really am enjoying reading on the iPhone. Great way to leave my Kindle at home and still get access to my growing Kindle library.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:13 am
I’ve installed this now and purchased a few books to try it out and get a feel for how well I like it. So far, I find the interface and readability quite nice. I did adjust the font size a bit smaller so I wasn’t paging quite so often, though, and I think I’d enjoy having the ability to rotate the display for a wider, perhaps more page-width-friendly, display.
My only other observation, after spending about an hour reading on one book, is that, without any visual indicator for my progress through the book or even a time display, I found it a little disorienting. But if the book is engaging enough then I don’t necessarily see this as a problem.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Unsurprisingly, it’s not available outside the USA. This is a disappointment – I thought Kindle was US-only because of it’s dependence on Amazon’s US-only deal with Verizon. Or maybe their ebook rights are limited to the US, although it’s a stretch to imagine that Amazon’s clout with book publishers suffers from any impediment whatsoever. This Amazon we’re talking about, after all. I think the real reason is that, outside the USA, Amazin is a good deal less than it looks – no bricks ‘n’ mortar, no local infrastructure. It’s just a (brilliant) web-based ordering service I’m Seattle that makes fulfillment deals with local suppliers, like Indigo (books) and HMV (CD, DVD) in Canada. They who goods in Amazon-branded boxes, but there’s no “there” there, so to speak. Kindle is a physical product, and it’s Amazon’s own creation. Either at this point they don’t want to invest in local infrastructure outside the USA or they simply can’t be bothered with us. I suspect the latter, for quite a while. After all, the Kindle is a sellout in America. Why bother with foreign markets? Still hard to understand, though, why they’ve blocked sale of the Kindle app to furrigners.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:59 am
This is simply awesome. I’ve been on the Pre bandwagon as of late. But as a kindle fan, this is great for the iphone.
BTW..you don’t need to own a Kindle to take advantage of being able to download the first few chapters of any kindle book for free. You just need this app. That alone is pretty big.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:09 am
This is great news. I’ve been on the fence with Kindle – but being able to start a book on the Kindle at home, then continue it on your iPhone on the road, then go back to the Kindle; this is ground breaking.
The Kindle is now on my gadget ‘wish list’! Nice job Amazon.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Amazon has never seemed to get its act together with licensing rights for global distribution.
It took Apple years with the iTunes store, even now, you can’t get everything on the iTunes store outside the USA.
March 4th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Book licensing is a very tricky tricky business. I know because I once worked in this business. Publishers feed very threatened and insecure in the new digital age and are very reluctant to share any publishing rights. Not to mention that in different countries different publishers may hold the rights and you have to come to agreement with both. If you would like to see more pictures and analysis about Kindle for iPhone, please visit http://www.blogkindle.com/
March 4th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Does anyone know how difficult it would be to use the iphone’s accelerometer to create a function where you can tilt the iphone to scroll down the page? Due to the small size of the screen, I think it would get annoying to have to scross down every 20 seconds.
March 4th, 2009 at 10:38 am
scroll down
March 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Not too into it. Simple design and not too sure if the formatting is set for a small screen. I downloaded a sample of a cheap book (maybe the reason for the formatting issue) and really didn’t see much of improvement from the other reader apps in the store. Font change was nice. I may need to purchase a full price book and see what the format looks like. Right now I will stick with the eReader and other apps. It’s great for people who own a Kindle and want the books on their iPhone too. C+ for now.
March 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
is there any word on if they’ll be releasing a Kindle for Android?
March 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Amazon understands that the future is not about hardware (shocker), nor is it about content for content’s sake (shocker two). The future is about pairing mass aggregation of content and mass distribution of content.
More on this here…
http://www.unboundedition.com/content/view/10983/50/
March 4th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Thanks for digging this up! FYI – I got my first notification about this from PCMag.com’s daily news alert, who credited AppScout for the news. I linked to AppScout, who credited EndGadget. EndGadget credited you, and here I am.
Thanks for actually doing the reporting, instead of just copying what everyone else is doing.
March 4th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
So far it looks like it only works for books. I have not been able to get it to work with newspapers or magazines.
March 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Say what you want… but this does not even come close to comparing to a Kindle.
March 4th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
It’s not available outside the USA because euro scum does not deserve this app. Nothing but trash lives in europe.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
If you live outside of the US, there’s a workaround to buy and download books to Kindle for iPhone : http://www.treotoday.net/2009/03/05/buy-kindle-books-iphone/
March 5th, 2009 at 12:33 am
I’m still trying to figure out how to purchase Kindle editions from mobile safari on my iPhone. Every book says “item not available”.
March 5th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Not available in Netherlands….
March 5th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hope it gets a UK release, i’ve bought merchandise from Amazon.com with a UK credit card, shipped to the UK, so i dont see why this should hold up a digital download…unless there are other admin technicalities, like tax. Well i hope they sort something soon, using ereader, but really looking forward to kindle
March 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
My biggest concern about the Kindle, aside from it’s weird, book-buring-esque name, is that it compromises the integrity of the written word. A printed book may be unwieldy, but you know that once it’s on your shelf, not one letter is going to change. Can’t say the same for the Kindle: http://urbzen.com/2009/02/09/amazon-kindle-privacy-fail/
Also, when I spill coffee all over a book, I’ve only ruined that particular book
March 8th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
is there 100% conformation it works on an iPod touch?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
It definitely works on a Touch as I am using one with the app right now.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Works like a charm on my iPod touch. I am outside the US, but downloaded it from the US site using my PayPal account which is linked to my foreign CC. Also the workaround that Morituri suggested worked perfectly and now I am able to buy Kindle books and have them directly sent to my iPod. A little work, but definitely worth the hassle. I love this app. Of course now I must have the Kindle. Lol, sneaky Amazon!
March 11th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Autumn : I don’t get it : how do you download the app if you’re outside the US ?? The App Stores outside US don’t have the app ?
March 11th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Bats all you need do is create a US iTunes account using a US address. With this in place use it to login to the US iTunes store and download the app.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Do news paper and magazine subscriptions work on this?
March 12th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
You be able to get everything for the damn phone in time, watch out for nasties though. Hackers will be operating!!
March 14th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
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April 4th, 2009 at 10:27 am
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June 27th, 2009 at 12:01 am
The kidle app is available to anyone as long as have a jail broken iPhone search for the app From iPhone app crack site install and then you can dowload books from amazon.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Will this work if you don’t own a kindle?
August 6th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Does anyone know if you have the iPod Touch with the Kindle app outside of the US if it works/ allows you to download the books and stuff? Thanks…
September 20th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
STILL not available at the UK store ! along with circumventing the default cedit card details ITUNES trys to weasel off you before you can use it,(although there is away around it) here is another example of less than joined up thinking between Amazon & ITUNES. Oh well better look for an alternative process, another case of deja Vu with the IPOD
September 30th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
my mom got me a ******* kindle for my brithday instead of an i touch what retards
October 6th, 2009 at 11:18 am
kindle for iPhone is NOT available in Switzerland. But why? it’s free!
November 20th, 2009 at 4:04 am
I have now been able to purchase Kindle reader in the Uk but still unable to get the iphone kindle application!!!