Amazon's Kindle Makes It To iPhone

Steve Jobs once (in)famously said that Apple had no plans to turn the iPhone 3G into an e-book reader, since, quote, “Nobody reads anymore.” That's why the iPhone caught my attention when an App for Amazon's Kindle became available just a few days ago. Besides being another instance of Apple contradicting itself, is Amazon trying to compete against itself?

Amazon recently released Version 2 of their Kindle e-book reader, which currently costs $360 in the States. It's currently the e-book reader to have, boasting spectacular readability, battery life that lasts more than a week, enough storage space for a thousand books, and a form factor that can pass even Apple's standards. The only drawback for Kindle 2 is the steep price tag – I doubt it'll make lots of sales in the middle of a recession. Still, it's the best e-book reader out there, and it puts Amazon firmly on top of the e-book business.

So why bring Kindle to the iPhone?

Obviously there are tons more iPhone (and iPod Touch) users out there than Kindle users, and Amazon's apparently using Apple's fan base as leverage for selling more books and promoting the Kindle 2. I don't think the iPhone will ever match Kindle 2 as an e-book reader for the following reasons:

• Kindle 2's battery life lasts over a week, while you'll be lucky if you can squeeze more than 10 hours out of the iPhone.

• Kindle 2 uses E-Ink, a display technology that gives great readability compared to LCD and CRT schemes. E-Ink doesn't refresh displays like other devices do, causing much less eyestrain and a more pleasing reading experience. (Besides, it's always easier to read a book by leaning back instead of leaning in.)

• In addition, the iPhone's display is backlit – in essence, shining a light straight into your eyes – so reading on the iPhone for long periods of time can hurt your eyes.

The iPhone Kindle App isn't open-source like the other e-book reading Apps developed for the iPhone so far, but it has a much, much wider library. You can't browse Amazon's entire library on the iPhone (yet), but the books and titles the App brings to you are often more than enough to keep you entertained... for now... I think.

Anyway, it's a good move to put Kindle on the iPhone. At the risk of sounding preachy, people seriously need to read more these days, both for recreation and for personal growth. It's a known statistic that most people never pick up another book after school, and maybe bringing e-books to the iPhone will help lower this embarrassing statistic.

And lastly, I want to know when we'll be getting Kindle and access to it's collection of wireless downloadable books!