Kindle for Mac now finally available

With not so much as a hint of fanfare (and a very loose definition of "coming soon"), Amazon has quietly unleashed its Kindle app for Mac. The 22MB file is for Intel-based machines only, OS X 10.5 and above. Nothing too fancy, it does exactly what you'd expect in terms of functionality... and not much else. What else is there to say? Time's a-wastin', hit up the source link to download.

[Bosco Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:53AM]

I'm surprised Apple approved this!

[lexitu Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:57AM]

@Bosco

It's for Mac OS X Desktop - it doesn't need approval.

[OCEAN CLAK Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:59AM]

@Bosco

Especially considering mac users will only use iPads and maybe iPod Touch/iPhone for reading books or what ever apple makes.

[AnalogRebellion Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:02AM]

@(Unverified)
I think that was the joke :)

[Jaylittles531 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:10AM]

@Bosco

Its a OS X Application... FAIL!

[Bosco Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:14AM]

@AnalogRebellion Thanks man! (Shakes head.)

[AnalogRebellion Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:54AM]

But will it come to the iPad?

[bobp Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:56AM]

@AnalogRebellion

iPad can already run Kindle for iPhone. Possibly at a reduced resolution however.

[AnalogRebellion Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:01AM]

@bobp

Good. I'm hoping for some eBook competition on the iPad.

[Wesscoast Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:36AM]

@AnalogRebellion

You didn't know that the iPad would run .... Apps?

What did you think it was?

[ttennebk Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:43AM]

@bobp they'd have to create a specialised ipad version though, you couldn't read a book with each character just pixel doubled..

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 18th 2010 2:25AM]

@ttennebk You're right, text is the thing that is terrible on old apps for the iPhone that get doubled on the iPad, however you can use the 3.4 inch version and have the same exact experience. 1 thing I love is how everyone assumes how the kindle app will work on the iPad. They can block this app and it might be in their interest to, which means I give it at least 50-50 chance of being blocked. When I read "nearly all iphone apps" will be usable I instantly thought to 2 things: microphone apps such as leaf trombone and the Kindle app (now that they have iBooks)....stranger things have happened in tech, and this is Apple and money, it wont be strange at all.

And yes, of course, I still say this in spite of the recent news about iPad accepting non-DRM books because kindle uses DRM.

http://www.tipb.com/2010/01/27/ipad-compatible-iphone-apps/

[RyanTV Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:56AM]

I'm not getting anything that has to do with Kindle based on the way the Kendle-tards act on the book review sections on amazon.

[ant506 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:02AM]

twelth!

[OCEAN CLAK Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:15AM]

@ant506

twelth! WHAT??????

[Jaylittles531 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:12AM]

@WindowsPhone

You'd be surprised how many people own Macs, guarantee its more than 10%. If you dont care about Apple or Mac news then dont bother to read it or comment.

[Son Goku Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:14AM]

I love the Kindle app. I didn't appreciate how good it was until I downloaded the much inferior Nook for PC app.

[Anatidae Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:15AM]

@kingblind

Ahh, you were reading a book on your LCD monitor, eventually straining your eyes only to close them in order for some relief... now look at you.

That or you read this news article.

[theehokage Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:15AM]

thats what would happen to my eyes if i tried reading for a long period of time from a laptop --> X_X

[SilverSurfer Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:17AM]

Note to self... Noted.

[Anatidae Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:18AM]

Top story? Really Engadget?

Does the Mac really get so few new applications that when one is released it becomes a headline? How sad. Someone give Apple a patent on something vague to make them feel better.

[to86 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:26AM]

@Anatidae Yet another nerd making a pointless comment to try and feel important. I actually wonder what some of u guys do with your lives

[IvanP91 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:36AM]

@to86 dude, u just asked the ultimate question!

[FalkensMaze Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:42AM]

@Anatidae: This isn't a printed magazine. Space is not finite. So why not publish news stories that cater to niches?

[Wesscoast Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:19AM]

@Anatidae

You do know that... Eye Glasses were invented ...before LCD screens came out, right?

[winbsodos Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:21AM]

Bleah. Amazon can keep their free crap, thank you very much.

[Anatidae Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:25AM]

@Wesscoast Your point?

[calvin8714 Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:27AM]

my mac mini with tiger is disappointed. unfortunately, that's happening more and more...

[jin and guice Posted Mar 18th 2010 7:01PM]

@calvin8714
You didn't get the memo? You MUST buy every generation of every Apple product, or Tim Cook will cry, Johnathan Ives will go blind and Steve Jobs will get cancer again (again).

[AlienSix Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:34AM]

@AnalogRebellion Im sorry for people like him, Its people like him that give the people who like Microsoft look really bad. We arent all like that

[Xybr Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:49AM]

Finally! I can read my Star Trek: TNG: Vendetta book on something bigger than my iPhone screen. The more devices the Kindle app appears on, the better. Competition is always good.

I do wish the Kindle app could download the whole book, so you can do some offline reading. Not all laptops have a 24/7 Internet connection...

[Tagbert Posted Mar 18th 2010 3:34AM]

@Xybr That's exactly what it does... download the book. Once downloaded from your archive, you don't need a network connection.

[greengascube Posted Mar 18th 2010 1:49AM]

Well just like the iPhone version it doesnt support Periodicals....meaning no newspapers or magazines. I hope for the iPad version they do support periodicals else i have no use for the kindle app or amazon itself.

[Cnote822 Posted Mar 18th 2010 2:40AM]

@greengascube
i believe the iPad will in fact have many periodicals and magazines as well ..i remember seeing interactive espn magazines and such for it

[enex Posted Mar 18th 2010 2:40AM]

why would you want to Kindle books on your computer screen? why not just read books on your TV if you think your eyes won't strain.

[rcappo Posted Mar 18th 2010 10:51AM]

@enex

I read a computer screen for 12+ hours a day a lot of times each year.

Tech manuals, SDKs, Engadget, news, etc...

[Kevin B Posted Mar 18th 2010 9:19PM]

@enex
I can't tell you why. But I do want to. I really, really, do want to read Kindle books on my computer screen.

Maybe it's to practice until I get my iPad and can read them there.

[MrMixist Posted Mar 18th 2010 12:17PM]

In my humble opinion, all e-book readers are pointless without text to speech.

[terrytibbs Posted Mar 19th 2010 9:42AM]

Too many out there!

http://www.x10android.com

[Reaper man Posted Mar 19th 2010 1:52PM]

this isn't tagged as apple, why?