Amazon Previews it’s Kindle for iPad app
Today Amazon announced it’s iPad application. I was disappointed by last weeks release of the Kindle for Mac application, but it’s clear Amazon has focused their Apple developers on the iPad app. It looks quite polished.
I’ve been rather vocal about my love for the Kindle since the day it came out. It’s one of the best gadgets I’ve ever owned.
The iPad version looks like it contains all of the major features of the Kindle hardware.
Books are purchased through the Safari browser and then are downloaded into the application, which seems pretty straightforward. It also might provide the loophole they need to compete with Apple in this space.
While this looks pretty slick, it still doesn’t compete with the Kindle hardware as a book reader, in my opinion. The e-ink display on the Kindle hardware is fantastic in both bright sunlight, and dim rooms. It’s ideal for reading on the go. I haven’t seen the iPad in person, but I speculate the backlit display will suffer the same as the Macbook Pro does in direct sunlight.
I certainly wouldn’t turn down a color e-ink display, but I think color is overrated for most everyday reading. I haven’t missed it yet.
What do you think?
Do you think this is a competitor to Apple’s service?
Does the lack of e-ink put you off?
Is the color screen more appealing to you?
About Josh Walsh
Josh Walsh is a Managing Partner at Designing Interactive. He's also an award winning designer, author and speaker on the topics of User Experience Design, User Interface Design and Usability Research. You can follow him on twitter at: @joshwalsh
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Thaddeus Quintin
I think the best potential for the iPad isn’t books, but magazines, cookbooks, textbooks and anything else that can benefit from multimedia.
The Kindle is a tightly focused device, perfect for those that love to read; the display and the hardware are designed for that purpose. The synchronization between various “Kindle” programs is also intriguing. At your computer, want to read? Kindle for PC/Mac. Have your iPad? Kindle for iPad. Want to curl up in a chair and read for awhile? Kindle proper. All of them saving your bookmark so you can pick up right where you were on any device. Amazon is playing kind of like Audible (which, of course, Amazon now owns) in the ebook market. They want to be on every device. That alone makes them compelling.
The iPad gives you the flexibility of doing “anything” but might not excel at e-reading per se. However, it will probably be good enough for most people. And unless they have a reason to associate with Amazon’s Kindle services… It’s hard to see why you’d choose the Kindle iPad app over the iBookstore.
Time will tell!
March 22, 2010
Josh Walsh
@Thaddeus – Yeah I totally agree. The synchronization features of the kindle are very useful. I would bet Apple has the same feature, though we can’t know for sure yet.
I’m still surprised that the two companies haven’t found a way to work together, that would be the killer combo. But, I guess Apple thinks they can do it all on their own, and they are probably right.
March 23, 2010