Kindle iPhone App Launches, E-Book Sales To Jump?
That was quick: A week after the Amazon Kindle 2 started shipping, Amazon's Kindle iPhone app is now available for free download.
What is it? A very basic e-book reader app that syncs up to your Amazon account to access the Kindle books you've purchased. You can't buy books directly from the app, but you can via a computer or the iPhone's Safari browser (or a Kindle). Good enough.
We downloaded the app, and within a few moments, we were synced up to the exact page in Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" where we left off last night on the Kindle we're borrowing from Amazon (AMZN). This is the "Whispersync" feature Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been talking about that lets you read Kindle e-books across a variety of gadgets without losing your place in a book.
The Kindle app isn't as polished (or full-featured) as some other iPhone e-books we've seen, such as Scrollmotion's. But it's clean and not offensive, so for many people, it will be enough. And because Amazon subsidizes Kindle book sales, and has the most leverage with publishers, it has (and could always have) the best selection and pricing.
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