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Amazon Releases Free 'Kindle for iPhone' Application

I've tried it, but there's just no comparison between reading books on my Kindle or on the iPhone. It's not even close. The new Kindle is amazing for reading. The iPhone is amazing for a ton of other things, but not this.
 
The more I think of this, the more possibilities. Since you can get Kindle content on an iPhone with a simple Amazon account info, there is really nothing to prevent the same in a full blown application on our desktop/laptops.
Might as well now. This is probably feelers from both sides and I'm all for it.

From my brief few minute experience, the read on the iPhone is not all that bad. Kindle is better, but this is start.
 
You can't even DOWNLOAD the app outside the US, nor can you buy their ebooks outside the US.

In France, I got around getting the app by buying a US iTunes card on eBay. That gave me a "US" account in iTunes, which then let me download the amazon app.

But once I logged in (and I even have a US amazon account), my iPhone WILL NOT REGISTER on the site - YOU MUST REGISTER YOUR IPHONE or KINDLE to do to do ANYTHING with ebooks. To repeat: You cannot even buy an ebook on Amazon without a US account, and you CANNOT use a gift certificate to buy an ebook (i did that, still doesn't work), and you cannot download the amazon app without a US iTunes account. PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG ANYONE!

Philosophically speaking, I don't understand this "eBlocking"; you can certainly buy paper books and have them shipped here. If the same book is in digital form, what's the difference beside saving trees? And aren't we supposed to be a "globalized" world with globalized capitalism? What's with all this sorry nationalism crap?

Richard
 
I can't seem to download any of the Papers 🙁 keeps saying my iPhone isn't registered 🙁 is it just me or are others having same issue?
 
MacRumors said:


Amazon has released a free application that delivers Kindle book-reading to the iPhone:Features include:

- Buy a Kindle book from your Mac, PC, or iPhone using a Web browser and wirelessly transfer the books to your iPhone
- Read first chapters of any book for free before you buy
- Download the Kindle books you already own for free — they are automatically backed up on Amazon.com
- Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle device

The iPhone client will also allow you to seamlessly switch back and forth between your Kindle device and Kindle for iPhone while keeping bookmarks and reading location synced between the devices.

App Store Link: Kindle for iPhone, Free

Article Link: Amazon Releases Free 'Kindle for iPhone' Application
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Would the author edit this first page post and say "For US Customers only" ?
 
don't they deliver free glasses ? How can one read on such a small screen and not go blind ?? Beats me. 😎
 
If you need to find a way to use this when out of the US go to MobileRead.com and they tell you ways to use Amazon gift cards and a Us address to purchase e-books to read off iphone. You don't even need to own a Kindle. Also magazines do not work, only books.
 
danielpi said:
As for the practicality of the app... it gives me a neckache just thinking about someone trying to read "War and Peace" on a 3.5 inch screen.
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Macmanus said:
don't they deliver free glasses ? How can one read on such a small screen and not go blind ?? Beats me. 😎
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gcmexico said:
no way I can read a book of the iPhone screen...I'll stick with my Kindle 2
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Exactly. Bring on the $399 7-inch iPod touch, and I'll be first in line.
 
mavis said:
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (white): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

Finally!

Nice to see Amazon giving in, and actually it'll be nice to see SJ proven wrong. 'Nobody reads anymore,' wasn't it? 😉
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and isn't he rumored to be writing an autobiography?! if no one reads, kinda a lot of work for little return . . .
 
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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Well I'm trying to make up for the rest, I read about 100 books last year. Other than Blu-ray, Nascar and, American Idol, I don't even turn on my TV. Loving this app!
 
rvdparis said:
Would the author edit this first page post and say "For US Customers only" ?
Click to expand...

I agree with the sentiment of rydparis. This is the second time in two weeks that MacRumors has posted a news story leading readers to believe that a release was general only to disappoint the non-US readers subsequently trying to take advantage of the service.

Macrumors is presumably an international online media outlet focusing on Apple-related products across the world.

You people need to MENTION when an iphone app release is only for alimited part of the world - even when that limited part of the world turns out to be the writer's own backyard - be that the United States or otherwise. This explicit mention should preferably feature in the headline of a news story so the rest of the world won't have to waste minutes reading through what is in effect news only relevant to a local geography.

Failure to do so can only be seen as sloppiness and/or ethnocentrism on your part.
 
johnmcboston said:
They're called paperbacks, and you can still find some for $8 and $9. Why is it you're dying to pay $10 for an electronic-only copy???
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Paperbacks on the Kindle are usually around $5-6 dollars. $1-2 less than the retail price. The $9.99 price is generally for newer releases or bestsellers that are still only available in hardcover.

You can often get classics or other older books for much less, sometimes only a buck or two. Amazon also runs special deals sometimes for free or discounted books. I picked up a copy of an Alan Furst novel (The Foreign Correspondent) for free a couple months ago.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

danielpi said:
I love SJ, but am looking forward to seeing him eat his words. "Nobody reads anymore." What?! I think that's pretty good evidence that Steve needs to get himself some better and smarter friends.

As for the practicality of the app... it gives me a neckache just thinking about someone trying to read "War and Peace" on a 3.5 inch screen.
Click to expand...

Heh, I recently finished The Count of Monte Cristo on my iPhone (stanza). Was no problem. 🙂

This would be a lot better if you could buy from within the app. Oh well, maybe in an update.

This is nice, but it's not going to replace stanza for me because I mostly download the free stuff anyway.

The whole whispersync thing is very slick, at least in theory. Would be good to hear how it actually works from someone with an iPhone and a kindle.
 
the reason i bought a kindle was so i didnt have to read an e book on a tiny screen. I am happy to see this though if only to boost ebook acceptance
 
Wow, I wasn't expecting this. This might come in handy however for textbooks. I still have another year left of grad school and the less physical books I have to buy, the better. 🙂 I at least have to give this a try and read the first chapter of a few textbooks that I know are offered on Kindle.
 
no problem

northy124 said:
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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Apparently, you can do both. I used my mac to quickly view and download some samples though.

You can also use safari on the iPhone to do it too.

Really digging this. Would like to see Amazon let us view the books on either the iPhone or our Macs.

That's gotta be next. My laptop will love that. 😎
 
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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As someone who reads a lot more than the average person, I welcome an easier object to hold. The iPhone can be easily mounted in front of me, or held easily. As everyone knows, holding a book open, especially a new book, is a bit of a strain on the hands after a while.

However, this app is not really the "answer" for me because for reading material, I use this giant free building around the block called the Library.
I check out 2-3 new books per week, and usually read 1 - all 3 of them. I can't afford an extra 20-30 dollars PER week just to overpay for Amazon book content.

Great idea but not so great offering.
 
This new Kindle app is just what the doctor ordered. I bought a Kindle v2 last week and love it, but it's a little large to carry around with me unless I have my backpack on me. Now I can read the same books outside of the house on my iPhone and leave the Kindle at home if I want to. (Books are still easier to read on the Kindle. I still absolutely love the thing.)

Genius!
 
Breakout For Amazon

This will make a huge difference for Amazon/Kindle by taking advantage of the mass appeal of the App Store. Volume distribution of books is now a reality and will be instrumental to Apple and its future electronic devises (Probably in the works already---March 24th?)

I can even see Apple starting a book store or even buying a Amazon competitor as this nacent space grow into its own.
 
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