It must be getting close to April 3rd because the iPad news is hotting up. Today we get our first glimpse at Amazon's free Kindle app for the iPad. We've also got a
Barnes & Noble iPad app on the way, courtesy of a report in the
New York Times, that has been completely redesigned by a team of 14 developers working since January to allow for custom fonts in multiple colors and quick page turns with finger swipes. The Kindle app, meanwhile, features a redefined core screen and reading experience, slow page turns, and new ways to view your eBook library. One view, pictured above, presents your books as large icons against a silhouetted figure under a tree -- the sun changes position in accordance to the time of day. Of course, the app also gives you access to the Kindle bookstore (assuming Apple approves) and saves your reading position so that you can pick up any Kindle app (or device) and continue reading right where you left off.
Fortunately, Amazon's Kindle App will be targeting tablets beyond the iPad. We're also hearing that
Skiff is almost certainly headed to Apple's tablet, and we suspect as many competitors as possible given the plethora of devices
demonstrated to us at CES. So seriously, we ask you, in an age where content is king, are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store?
Update: The Barnes & Noble app,
not the Kindle app, is being worked on by a team of 14 developers.
[Thanks, Jason D.]
posted March 22nd 2010 2:38AM
@WindowsPhone7Series I'm starting to believe Apple is living off of their developers for success because they clearly did not do any innovation on the ipad/iphone/ipod OS.
@derekdevine Apple didn't change much on ipad's OS because They are waiting for 4.0 for the breakthrough features.
@derekdevine The innovation doesn't always have to be on the devices mate, they innovated in bringing in and creating such a wonderful Ecosystem for developers to reap benefits from...
@derekdevine
hotting?
heating.
@jellotime91 You sound like you work for Apple, but if that's the case, ok.
@derekdevine
You sound like you work for Microsoft, but if that's the case, ok.
@think before you react ignorant.
I wonder where the first post is.
@sidhboss
Many people miss The actual innovations. Stuck are they on IT Benchmarks
@derekdevine
so, I work for apple, but someone whose USERNAME is WindowsPhone7Series wouldn't be working for Microsoft? Right...
I love how ass backward as fuck this world is.
@Billy The guy under the tree stole it.
I find the interface for this app interesting because people were saying Apple couldn't really design a book store to look any different than the Delicious Library but this interface doesn't say anything to me other than it's a place to get books so it's definitely possible. Ripping the DL guys off wasn't necessary, even if they technically hired the original staff:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/27/think-ibooks-looks-familiar-youre-not-the-only-one/
kindle for joojoo please
@WindowsPhone7Series I know it says for other tablets, but a list of planned/supported devices would be cool.
@mogren Or Kindle for WePad lol. I'm making fun of it, but a German made android tablet, It got potential.
@WindowsPhone7Series Uh, or because the iPad is the device that is focused on in the article, and the other devices are only mentioned not even specifically in the last paragraph. You are like, a super hater.
@mogren how about Kindle for that $100 Android tablet from Marvel? i would be all over that! aw who am i kidding. i don't read books. still interested in that tablet though.
comedy will ensue when apple removes this from the app store for duplicate functions... and lawsuits.
@sinai
What duplicate functionality would that be? Apple doesn't own the Kindle store, Amazon does. How could the Kindle app possibly be duplicating anything that Apple makes?
@Jack
Id laugh if apple sued them for using the bookshelf-ish idea. When i saw that pic, the first thing I thought of was...it looks like the bookshelf from the apple book store.....I wouldn't be surprised if apple did sue them for that, its just like apple to do so.
@abedinthehouse
Are you serious? It's like you only just discovered companies sue other companies for patent infringement!
Patent disputes have been happening for a while. This isn't something Apple just invented.
Granted, you may have just learned to read in the last few months so you get a pass for now.
@abedinthehouse
I don't believe Apple has the bookshelf background trademarked, copyrighted, or patented, but thanks for your useful comment.
@Jack OK, so obviously you don't realize that they aren't interested in having app stores, book stores, music catalogs or anything else where funds are diverted away from their store, regardless of if they "own the Kindle store". How could an Amazon app that opens their music service duplicate functionality? (sarcasm). Google voice wasn't rejected but wasn't accepted either.
@sinai
Why would apple sue? They would simply reject it.
@cardfan
right, and amazon would sue for anticompetitive practices.
@Jack Errr... But does the amazon mp3 store have a home on the iPhone? I wonder why!
@sinai You don't think Amazon management has called Apple management and asked them "if we made a Kindle app with book store access for the iPad, would you guys reject it?", before they assigned 14 engineers to spend two months making it? I think so.
@Garion
you think apple management said, "sure, we're going to release a directly competing product, but you are welcome to possibly cannibalize our upcoming book store."
APPLE.
@abedinthehouse
How could Apple sue Amazon for the bookshelf thing, when Apple copied it from several eReading Apps already available on the iPhone - namely the Classics eReader Application - it's EXACTLY the same interface right down to the color of the "bookshelf."
@juanvaldez
Well obviously that's not true because this article is about how the Kindle store is now available for the iPad. Doesn't that completely contradict your whole theory?
You tools just don't get it. Apple knows (obviously better than you do) that the more functionality the iPad has, the more people will want it. The iTunes store (and app store and book store) is there to make the hardware look more attractive so you'll buy it. The Kindle app will do exactly the same thing for the iPad, in exactly the same way.
How can you not get how this works?
Won't hold a Kandle to the ipad's built in iBooks functionality.. I guarantee it.
@jellotime91 Really, the ebook publisher with the most content deals won't hold a candle to someone just entering the game? Keep drinkin' the kool-aid
@jellotime91
You're kinda stupid huh?
@jellotime91
Actually, even though I am a fan of most things Apple, I really hope this Kindle app makes it onto the iPad. I'd love to see weekly specials from both Amazon AND Apple, trying to vie for my money by offering better deals.
What I DON'T want to see, is books/content locked into either the iBookstore or Kindle app exclusively. I'd find it a little cumbersome to have to switch through book apps because I forgot which merchant I used to purchase each book. An app that shows ALL book/magazine content purchased regardless of merchant which allowed said content to be opened in either app would be WIN.
@jellotime91
Intelligence. He Lacks It.
International iPad = Kindle.
Hotting up?
@Itami Someone was eager to report the news it seems.. >_>
>are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store?
The iPad is still twice the price of the Kindle 2.
@Carld
I doubt many people are buying the iPad as an ereader anyway, it's a internet/media tablet that happens to have books on it.
@Atkins
Not when it comes to reading books it doesn't.
@yulebellow
But, if you're going to compare them as ereaders, then you need to compare them as readers, not as a reader vs. a multi-media/internet tablet.
@Carld
If you're going to compare just the e-reader functionality, then you have to strip away 3/4 of the cost of the Ipad.
So, by my reckoning that makes the Ipad way cheaper and way more open than the Kindle. Yeah?
@pukerocket
>If you're going to compare just the e-reader functionality, then you have to strip away 3/4 of the cost of the Ipad.
Except you can't actually do that can you? If your main use for a Kindle or an iPad is reading ebooks then the iPad is 2x the price of the Kindle for little to no extra functionality.
@Carld AND dedicated to the Apple ecosystem
@Carld
You can actually do that. Just times the cost by 0.25.
People that want to read buy a Kindle, people that want to read, surf the web, listen to music, watch podcasts, play games, use productivity software, check emails, use location-based services, use 1000 of custom- designed dedicated apps, buy books from multiple stores.. Those folk will buy an Ipad
@Makis
Uhh, you can also get Amazon books, and Barnes and Noble books on an Iphone / Ipad.
But yeah. Buying a book reader restricted to one eco-system is a horrible idea, I guess that's what you don't like about the Kindle.
@Carld Not a comparison. The iPad has a much larger screen and many more functions.
If you were going to compare it to a Kindle, compare it to the Kindle DX. It costs a massive ten dollars more than the Kindle DX.
@pukerocket
>People that want to read buy a Kindle
That was pretty much my objection to that statement in the article.
"So seriously, we ask you, in an age where content is king, are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store?"
People who just want to read, rather than read and do all the stuff you mentioned, will be the people who won't spend twice as much for an iPad, regardless of how many stores it connects to.
I'm still interested in the iPad myself, both as a reader and for all the other stuff it can do. But, I know there are people who won't want the iPad's extra functionality. There some folks on the Kindle list that I read who already complain that the Kindle has too many features, and that it should ONLY be used for reading.
@pukerocket BANGED the nail on the head you did!
@Carld And thrice the functionality.