SuperSite Blog

Epic win for Amazon.  Big win for the iPhone/iTouch platform.  That this was released first for the iP/T platform tells you of the platforms clout.

>I would just caution people to not spend too much time reading books and periodicals on that device.<

Just like people shouldn't spend too much time reading their email on their Blackberry.

Review:

>>It doesn’t support periodicals. It doesn’t read books aloud. It doesn’t allow you to enter notes or highlight text, look up words in a dictionary, or perform searches...it lacks a built-in Kindle store.

--

In two key respects, using the iPhone app seems superior to using a Kindle. First, the iPhone’s screen is brighter, and supports color, so book covers and illustrations in my test books looked much better on the iPhone than they did on the Kindle. Second, the iPhone is smaller and thus much more portable.

The new Kindle app isn’t as full-featured as some other e-reader apps for the iPhone, which do allow annotation, searching, and so forth. But it gets the job done and it gives you access to Amazon’s large catalog, which contains more popular and current commercial titles than other e-book sellers offer.

If you’re an iPhone or iPod Touch owner who has yearned for a Kindle but balked at its $359 price, or a Kindle owner with an iPhone or Touch already, this new Kindle app is a good bet, even if it is bare-bones.<<

mossblog.allthingsd.com/.../first-impressions-of-kindle-on-iphone

It's a very good companion to the Kindle, but is not a substitute because the screen is too small.

I for one, would never want to use a device such as an iPod/iPhone, Zune, or anything with that small of a screen to read a book. A 500 page paperbook would be like 7,000 pages long on a screen that small. My eye balls would fall out of their sockets! That's me though...if others like it...then that is fine.

Oh, and Ocean - you should check out http://wordpress.com You can start your own blog for free there!

--tayme

"The screen type will eventually cause eye strain, something that doesn't happen on the Kindle device."

I can get eye strain from reading a paperback or a computer screen. Does the Magic Kindle eliminate this possibility? It's a medical breakthrough!

No worries, though. I'll buy a pair of reading glasses with the money I save by not having to buy the Kindle. If it gets really bad, I'll pick up some aspirin. Heck, If I pick up both at the Dollar Store, I'll still have $350 and change left to buy books. Seems like a good deal to me.

"I for one, would never want to use a device such as an iPod/iPhone, Zune, or anything with that small of a screen to read a book."

Years ago, I used my PalmPilot to read e-books. Far from a perfect solution, but not unacceptable either. You get used to things pretty quickly.

Ocean: You committed the cardinal sin of quoting Mossberg on this site. Never mind that he's very fair in his review--and right.

Here is a better, more in-depth review:

Kindle for iPhone: Disappointing. Yet Still Amazing.

technologizer.com/.../kindle-for-iphone-disappointing-yet-still-amazing

@"lotsamystuff" - I find the small screens great for reading quick emails and text messages, but htere is no way that I personally could use a 3.5 inch screen to read anything longer than that...I don't care how many magic finger gestures I can do to manipulate the screen. But like I said before...that's me.

--tayme

This is a breakthrough app for the iPhone and a smart, smart move by Amazon, similar to the moment that Apple put iTunes on Windows. As Paul loves to point out, most iPod customers are Windows users, and now most Amazon ebook buyers will be iPhone/Touch owners rather than Kindle owners.

It's all about the content, and now you can get all the best content for the iPhone.

The reasonable objections to the Kindle app are typical of a 1.0 release, all fixable, some of them pretty trivial fixes.

It's a good day to be an iPhone user.

Pingback from  Amazon releases Kindle application for iPhone/iPod touch &#8230; | GIT Fourm

Plus the Kindle uses less power. But for people without a Kindle, this app might be nice for on the go reading (of course, I would normally suggest an audio book for that).

Pingback from  Amazon releases Kindle app for iPhone &laquo; Alpha&#8217;s Place