Free iPhone Kindle App Lets You Read All About It
The app lets choose readers chose from thousands of books in Kindle's library, including New York Times best-sellers, most of which retail for $9.99. E-book aficionados can also download their already purchased titles from Kindle at no charge since they are already backed up on Amazon.com.
If you're not sure if The Shack or War and Peace is your cup of tea, the app lets users read the first chapter of any book for free. The Kindle app also includes Whispersync, a feature that allows users to switch back and forth between Kindles and iPhones, letting readers pick up where they left off in their books from either device.
Amazon.com seems willing to bet that the free app will not cut into Kindle device sales, especially since readers have to buy titles from Kindle. In addition, the Kindle app is now positioned to grab a slice of the e-book market for apps that are already on iPhones.
The Kindle app is going up against Stanza, a similar free e-reading app for Apple devices from Lexcycle that was launched in July 2008. As of December 2008, the app was downloaded by more than 1 million iPhone users, according to the company.
Yet another free iPhone e-book app is eReader, from Fictionwise, which is also in beta for the BlackBerry Storm. The eReader has more than 60,000 titles available, with new ones added daily, according to the company, and includes best-sellers. The app also comes with two free e-books to further entice readers.