Online mega-retailer Amazon.com has announced that it’s Kindle for iPhone application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch is now available in more than 60 additional countries, enabling users to not only buy and download books from the Kindle Store, but also synchronize their reading to Amazon’s Kindle devices and tap into their library of purchased titles from Amazon’s servers. And, unlike the physical Kindle devices, Kindle for iPhone can show some titles in color, including travel books, graphic novels, and more. Users can also read the beginning of a book before purchasing.
“We are excited to make the Kindle for iPhone App available to iPhone and iPod touch users in more than 60 countries,” said Amazon’s Kindle VP Ian Freed, in a statement. “The Kindle for iPhone App is the perfect companion for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a great way for customers around the world to download and read books even if they don’t yet have a Kindle.”
The application is available as a free download from the iTunes App store in supported markets.
Amazon began offering the Kindle in international markets earlier this year. Internationalizing the iPhone application is another way for Amazon to assert the Kindle platform, even as the company faces increased competition from the likes of Sony and Barnes & Noble, with Asus and Plastic Logic set to enter the e-reader fray in 2010. (Of course, there are also persistent rumors of an Apple tablet.)
So far, Amazon is the clear leader in the e-reader market: although Sony was the first out the door, the Kindle has been on the market for two years, and while Amazon does not divulge specific sales figures for the device, it recently claimed November was the device’s best sales month ever. In addition to the iPhone app, Amazon also offers a Kindle application for PCs.
