Kindle for Android coming this summer
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 18th 2010 1:30AM
posted May 18th 2010 1:30AM
What was hinted at in those leaked Dell Streak flyers is now official: Kindle for Android. Unfortunately, it's not quite ready to download. Amazon's free Kindle ebook reader -- already out for Mac, PC, BlackBerry, and iDevices -- won't launch until later this summer. When it does, users of Android 1.6 and above (with SD card) will have the ability to search, browse, and purchase (without exiting the app) any of the half million books in the Kindle Store. Like the other apps, Kindle for Android features Whispersync to keep your bookmarks, last page read, notes, and highlights synchronized across all your Kindle-enabled devices. Expect to see this demonstrated at Google I/O starting tomorrow.
Introducing Kindle for Android
Free Android app for reading allows customers to enjoy over 540,000 Kindle books on Android phones; Amazon offers Kindle apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and, soon, Android
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that Kindle for Android, the free application that lets readers around the world enjoy Kindle books on their Android phones, is coming this summer. Kindle for Android enables customers to discover and read from over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store -- the largest selection of the most popular books that people want to read -- including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99. Like all Kindle apps, Kindle for Android will include Amazon's Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android, so customers always have their reading material with them and never lose their place. Kindle is the most wished for, most gifted and #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com.
"Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don't yet have a Kindle," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. "We think customers are going to love the convenience and simplicity of having instant access to a massive selection of books from Amazon on their Droid, Nexus, Incredible and many more Android devices."
Android owners can take advantage of the features that customers love about Kindle and Kindle app experience, including:
* Search more than 540,000 books, including 96 of 110 New York Times Bestsellers, plus tens of thousands of the most popular classics for free directly from their Android device. Bestsellers such as "Backlash" by Aaron Allston, "Big Girl" by Danielle Steel, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, and "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, and hundreds of thousands of other popular books are $9.99 or less in the Kindle Store
* Browse by genre or author, and take advantage of all the features that customers enjoy in the Kindle Store, including Amazon.com customer reviews, personalized recommendations and editorial reviews
* Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon's servers for free
* Synchronize last page read between their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android
* Choose from five different font sizes
* Read the beginning of books for free before they decide to buy
* Read in portrait or landscape mode, tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages
Customers can see a sneak peak and sign up to receive an e-mail when Kindle for Android is available at www.amazon.com/kindleforandroid.
Free Android app for reading allows customers to enjoy over 540,000 Kindle books on Android phones; Amazon offers Kindle apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, PC, BlackBerry and, soon, Android
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that Kindle for Android, the free application that lets readers around the world enjoy Kindle books on their Android phones, is coming this summer. Kindle for Android enables customers to discover and read from over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store -- the largest selection of the most popular books that people want to read -- including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99. Like all Kindle apps, Kindle for Android will include Amazon's Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android, so customers always have their reading material with them and never lose their place. Kindle is the most wished for, most gifted and #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com.
"Kindle for Android is the perfect companion application for Kindle and Kindle DX owners, and is also a great way for customers to enjoy over 540,000 books in the Kindle Store even if they don't yet have a Kindle," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. "We think customers are going to love the convenience and simplicity of having instant access to a massive selection of books from Amazon on their Droid, Nexus, Incredible and many more Android devices."
Android owners can take advantage of the features that customers love about Kindle and Kindle app experience, including:
* Search more than 540,000 books, including 96 of 110 New York Times Bestsellers, plus tens of thousands of the most popular classics for free directly from their Android device. Bestsellers such as "Backlash" by Aaron Allston, "Big Girl" by Danielle Steel, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot, and "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, and hundreds of thousands of other popular books are $9.99 or less in the Kindle Store
* Browse by genre or author, and take advantage of all the features that customers enjoy in the Kindle Store, including Amazon.com customer reviews, personalized recommendations and editorial reviews
* Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon's servers for free
* Synchronize last page read between their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and, soon, Android
* Choose from five different font sizes
* Read the beginning of books for free before they decide to buy
* Read in portrait or landscape mode, tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages
Customers can see a sneak peak and sign up to receive an e-mail when Kindle for Android is available at www.amazon.com/kindleforandroid.
cant we just call it iphone os?
@Punisher Plum
How about we just down-rank you instead?
Yeah? Okaayyy byeee!
-1
@Punisher Plum
You can, but people will call you an I....diot
@Punisher Plum That would be hugely insulting to Android so i refuse thanks
@Punisher Plum
Hmm... I guess we could, but I hesitate to send you this message knowing that it will interrupt whatever you're doing on your phone, stalling it out for big notification in the middle of your screen.
And see, you can do stuff within the app that interfaces with the world outside of Apple's ecosystem. El Jobso frowns on that.
@steel
ugh you people missed the point entirely, i meant call it iphone os (what apple actually calls it even) instead of using the gaylord "iDevices" moniker
Android....After.thought.
@Wesscoast
your point being?
@Wesscoast iPhone... former thought thanks to Android
Now THATS truly magical.
Can Android get any better? I mean the announcement of the upcoming "Google Bookstore" , Android running Flash 10.1, no this... and guess what???? I'M GETTING AN EVO 4G!!!
@shoxite I'm a betting man, and my bet is "it will get better" and I will remove my clothes before reading the announcements so I don't stain & ruin them.
@shoxite Why are all the superphones keyboardless!!?!?!?!?!?!?
I'll upgrade from my Touch Pro 2 when there's an awesomely specced (evo) type phone with a keyboard that's at least half as nice.
@Broderbund
DROIIIID
@commenter7
droid's keyboard isn't even a quarter as nice as the tp2's
1.6?! I'm really hating my Hero right now!!!
Thank goodness for XDA-developers and rooting.
this and the sirius app announcement are the true signs to me android is maturing into a force to be reckoned with
They can't let this happen. Eventually someone will put this on a rooted Nook and the universe will implode.
@dingus
That is exactly my plan.
Awesome! Now you finally get to say bye bye to that horrible "vision" sense whilst trying to read tiny words on a backlit screen...
All these things coming out for Android.. but i dont Wana get rid of my G1... i add all these things but it only makes my phone slow.. so sad
Time to move to the Mytouch Slide?
@GettoLoser
Time to void that warranty and overclock.
@GettoLoser
Still using a G1? Why? Get a second hand newer phone.
Its all about establishing partnerships with the big-wigs. That's how your platform gets street cred.
That sounds pretty cool. But I really, really wish they'd find a way to make the Geographic restrictions less restrictive... I'm pretty fucked off that I can't purchase the eBooks I want because I happen to live in a country that the publishers basically don't care about.
I count myself lucky that I'm able to use iTunes to purchase music...
Still, it's a step in the right direction.
@ipsi Amazon, as far as I know and I am not in the US, has VERY few geographic restrictions on what books or where you can purchase them. I have used Amazon's WhisperNet to get books/newspapers in Spain, UK, Finland and Turkey of all places.
Amazon's strategy is great and I am glad I bought a Kindle ... but I can read my books on PCs, Macs, BBs, iDevices and now, finally, Android devices.
@Aku Really? That's interesting. I won't get my hopes up just yet, but if I can purchase the majority of their books (fiction and non-fiction) in New Zealand, then I'd be very happy.
@ipsi
The problem with geographical restrictions is that they are not set by Amazon. Individual book publishers decide in what countries they will allow their books to be sold.
I'm psyched for this. I was already pumped to find out that half of my textbooks are available on my iPad via Kindle, and now I can use my MotoDroid as well?! I might actually be looking forward to going back to college next semester!
@bravokiloromeo Same here!
I've been getting all my books on the iPad via the Kindle App and this is a great announcement! Expected though.
@bravokiloromeo reading a textbook on a phone sized screen would be a PIA.
Unless it was the middle of a midterm exam and you just "had to take the call from your poor ailing mother"....
You mean it wasnt on the android market before? I thought it was.
@n8equalsd There's a book reader called Aldiko.
I love the way android embraces other software vendors, unlike certain Apple assholes
@guigsy
I believe the Kindle app for Apple has been available for a while now.
@Doctor Kwame Nkrumah And in no way could I be referring to Flash for iPhone.........
@cherryboom And in no way could I be referring to Flash for iPhone.........
@Doctor Kwame Nkrumah
Moron.
If you put Android on a Kindle, then you can run Kindle for Android on your Android Kindle.
@alexz
Also.. "Yo Dawg, we put Android on your Kindle so you can run Kindle for Android on your Kindle"
@alexz
You got kindle in my android,
You got android in my kindle.
Reading a book on the Kindle app is like reading a PDF doc. What a crappy experience!!
It's about time! I have been looking forward to accessing my kindle books since switching from the iPhone.
Christ, it's about time. For me, this has been the single biggest hole in Androids app experience since I switched from an iPhone to a Droid back in December of last year.
Ah yes... the tide is turning. The Empire is beginning to falter in the face of a New Hope...
@steel Hmmm... which of these two massive corporations is the Empire and which is the rebel alliance?
Wow. This might be useful if Android users actually read books.
I personally would prefer audible support for android...but I guess this is a move in the right direction.