Why, yes it is. Barely a month after Amazon released their new generation of the Kindle ebook reader (Kindle 2, they now have a Kindle for the iPhone. Kindle for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is currently available from the US App Store, for free. I’ve downloaded it and given it a spin — here are my impressions.

We have been waiting quite a while for Amazon to offer ebooks for the iPhone. After all, they own Mobipocket, which is available for just about all mobile devices (except for the iPhone). Amazon has touted the Kindle as a success, although they have never mentioned actual sales figures. The Kindle 2 is a great improvement over the first generation — it’s slimmer and doesn’t look like a PC from the 80′s. But we all know the success stories of the iPhone. Amazon can reach a much larger audience of readers by doing an iPhone app.

The first thing I noticed is that you can’t actually purchase ebooks (“Kindle books”) directly from the iPhone app. You need to use a desktop browser, or Mobile Safari to buy the books. The books will then be transferred to your iPhone via “WhisperSync”. I understand that if you already own Kindle books, these will be automatically transferred.

You do need to login to your Amazon account from the Kindle for iPhone. Once you do that, the iPhone will show up as a device in your Amazon account.

The great thing about the Kindle store is the ability to preview a book before buying — usually the first chapters are free. In the Amazon store, you can choose to buy the book or send a free preview to your device. I chose The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.

There’s a sync button in the main page of the Kindle for iPhone app. After refreshing, the book appeared in my bookshelf.

Curious to see what it looks like? Here it is :

Unlike other ebook readers for the iPhone, this one displays images within the book itself.

It was quite easy to start downloading and reading a book. Feature-wise, the Kindle for iPhone app is quite limited:

- you have a choice of 5 fonts
- you can set bookmarks
- you can view table of contents
- you can jump through pages with a scroll bar

I’m quite disappointed in the navigation options. You can only turn pages by swiping. If you read a few hundred pages at a time, this can get quite tiring. Other ebook readers for the iPhone usually allow you to tap to get to the next page.

I’m not sure whether there are other advanced features which I have missed, or that are coming soon. I’d love to see dictionary support on this app.

Overall, the app feels quite stable and polished. No doubt Amazon will continue to improve this app. For now, we have another ebook player in the iPhone market, this one bringing a brand name, affordable books, plus magazine and newspaper subscriptions, too.

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Filed under: eBooks

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