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Amazon Releases Free 'Kindle for iPhone' Application

kas23 said:
I can't really see this hurting Kindle sales because Kindle sales are already down in the dumps to begin with. They only sold about 200,000 of the first generation and the 2G doesn't really add that much besides memory. I'm sure they would sell a lot more if they dropped the price by half - I definitely would buy one.
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Yes, but the problem is you are pulling numbers out of your ass :p Amazon has never revealed Kindle sales numbers. Some analysts think 500,000, others lower. We do know that the first-gen Kindle was constantly out of stock, so they sold as many as they manufactured.

I personally think this will help Kindle sales. I mean, once you've bought a few books on the iPhone, you'll start to think, "How much better would this be to read on a *real* Kindle? On a large screen that's almost exactly like reading a book, that lasts a couple weeks between charges rather than a few hours?" And you'll already have a few books for it! And iPhone owners are already proven to spend lots of money buying cool gadgets :)
 
talkingfuture said:
I am so convinced I reckon there certainly won't be a Kindle 4 and maybe not even a Kindle 3.
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They need to update the device every few months or so, so to have a device they can always sells for $350; if you never update it, then the price will eventually fall.
 
alphaod said:
They need to update the device every few months or so, so to have a device they can always sells for $350; if you never update it, then the price will eventually fall.
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But I don't think they'll be in the hardware game anymore. They are trying to "kindle" the market so that other companies start making hardware that reads Kindle books. After all, Amazon is a shop not a consumer electronics manufacturer.
 
alphaod said:
Only works with books; besides you can only sync your magazine and newspapers to one Kindle.
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They need to fix their site then because the page says magazines work on the Kindle and iPgone/iPod Touch. Magazines and newspapers I think are better suited to the smaller screen. I just bought a book that turns out to be 6,000+ pages even when I decrease the font size a bit. A Newsweek article would only be a couple dozen pages though; much more manageable.
 
I've had no trouble with downloading a couple of sample chapters here in NZ. I wouldn't say that the app is great. You can change the text size but there is no way that I can see to zoom embedded images. The sample that I'm looking at is a programming book and it's very difficult to read the text in the screenshots. To the person who asked whether the screen auto-dims, yes, it does.
 
081440 said:
I love the idea behind this! Maybe a great opportunity for Amazon. and AMZN

Question though - how many of you would prefer to sit/lie/curl up with an electronic screen (even the Kindle's) to forgo the purchase of real hard copy book? just wondering here.

I would deff go for reading magazines on it - and not have to deal with the post office ripping them up, but a book.... I don't know.....
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Seeing as the E-ink screen is as easy to read as a book, I would love to curl up with it (assuming I had a few hundred dollars to drop on it, which I don't). It would be nice not to have to hold open my paperback so that it doesn't close itself or stuff a bookmark in place every time I want to move the pillow or drink some water or whatever.

Also, I just downloaded the app and reading on it sucks. Swiping gets old, real fast, as does the sliding animation. The thing is, reading doesn't have to suck on a screen this size! BeamItDown's app reads like a teleprompter and changes the speed based on how you hold the device - it's brilliant!

Anyway, as others have said, Amazon also need to get a mobile browser for checking out titles as it sucks to have to buy the book on your computer (or try and navigate their website in mobile Safari).
 
BillyShears said:
I'm sure Jobs and his friends read. I bet most successful people do. His quote that "people don't read anymore" was based on a statistic that 40% of people in the U.S. read one book or less in 2007.

Here is the relevant passage from the New York Times:
"It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore," he said. "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole [Kindle] conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore."
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What people really need is an app that reads the book to them. At least that's what I'd need before any of this crap became of use to me. Even if it was available outside the US. And I had an iPhone. Neither of which is the case at the moment or for the forseeable future.
 
Looks like they're trying to maximise software revenues on the back of poor* hardware sales. A quiet admission that the Kindle is a failure?

(* No idea on the sales figures - I've never seen one as it was never released in the UK).


EDIT: looks like it's only available in the US. Presumably due to licencing agreements.
 
Only appears to be available in the US...

When will Amazon release the kindle in the UK??!!!

ellsworth said:
So why buy a Kindle when you can get a free Kindle iphone app? Hmm
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Because the iphone screen is not suitable for reading War And Peace on.
 
for anyone new to this process...
a. Go to iTunes and download the app; then make sure you'r eon the internet
b. Start up the app and register your Pod(Phone or touch, i have a touch)You need your Amazon user name and password
c. Buy a ebook on amazon.com
d. Go to your Pod and start up the application, there's a Refresh button the lower left of the main screen...

On step D, my internet is really slow and seems to be downloading nothing...I wish i could download the actual document on Mac and just register it to play only on my iPOD serial number, i hate using the WIFI on my pod.

EDIT: Corrected the spelling of the word "NEW" in line 1.
 
why not make a book store app and sell books on there instead of requiring customers to go to amazon.com on a desktop?
 
johnnyjibbs said:
EDIT: looks like it's only available in the US. Presumably due to licencing agreements.
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While it's true that Amazon don't have any licences outside of the US, teh main reason for that is that they've never asked publishers for them, as they haven't got the Kindle hardware sorted out for international availability.

Phazer
 
whoa! no ***** way... brilliant move on Amazon's part. Target iPhone users, who are likely to have slightly more disposable cash -- get them to download eBooks, and then lure them into Kindle's when their iPhone resolution isn't satisfactory anymore...
 
Not bad at all. This will come in handy for those times I don't have the Kindle with me and I need a fix. The sync part is simply awesome and I can see myself reading even more.

Now I have something to do when folks are late to meetings. :)
 
Woot, this app is available to the entire world (excluding countries that are not the US) ;)
 
I have a question, can I buy and download books using Safari for iPhone or do I have to connect to a Mac to download th eBooks?
 
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