Kindle Sparks Up The iPhone…for Free

Amazon has released a Kindle app that enables iPhone and iPod touch owners to read Kindle book titles - and it's free (but you still have to buy the books).

Last month Amazon.com let the news slip that it was planning to bring its Kindle book platform to mobile phones—and now the company has made good on its promise, with the Kindle for iPhone application now available for free from the iTunes App Store. Kindle for iPhone enables iPhone and iPod touch owners to read Kindle books on their devices, with full support for WhisperSync so bookmarks and reading locations can be synchronized between a Kindle device and an iPhone. Users can also wirelessly transfer Kindle titles to the iPhone and iPod touch, and download Kindle books they’ve already purchased directly from Amazon.

“We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple’s App Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Amazon’s Kindle VP Ian Freed, in a statement. “Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is a great way for customers to catch up on their current book wherever they are, like in line at the grocery store or between meetings.”

Early reports from users indicate Kindle for iPhone displays Kindle titles with strong readability on the iPhone, which could make the iPhone a significant growth market for Amazon’s Kindle titles. Amazon’s own Kindle readers are somewhat large to be taken everywhere—and need a light to read by in the dark, just like a real book. The iPhone, however, is more portable and helpfully backlit. Kindle for iPhone does not currently support magazines, newspapers, and blogs available to owners of Amazon’s Kindle devices.

Kindle for iPhone is available from the iTunes App Store as a free download. Kindle books from Amazon vary by titles, but new releases are often priced at $9.99.