Amazon releases e-book application for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Earlier today Amazon made a surprising move in an effort to capture more of the e-book market. According to an article from The New York Times, Amazon has released a free application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows Apple users to access and purchase the 240,000 e-books currently available for the Kindle. Ian Freed, Vice President in charge of the Kindle explained that Amazon sees the e-reading application as a complement to the Kindle device and believes it could lead to more Kindle sales for its larger screen and longer battery life. Additionally, people that own both Kindle and Apple devices will benefit from the Whispersync technology which allows users to view all of their previously purchased e-books on both devices and place bookmarks on one device and have it display on the other. However, a posting from Gadgetwise explains that the application does lack some important features including widescreen reading capability, touch screen functionality to increase the text size, the ability to add notes, and most importantly the ability to download easily. It seems that the new Kindle application is best suited for customers that have either purchased the book via the Kindle or by using their computer because when users try to purchase e-books from the application a message says, “Get the best shopping experience by visiting www.amazon.com/kindlestore on your Mac or PC.”