iPhone Goldmine.net

Thanks to WIRED MAGAZINE’S Blog Network and Charlie Sorrel for this post on the new Amazon Kindle iPhone and iPod Touch app. This FREE app is available on iTunes. The user does not connect to the Kindle store but rather use the Web browser on their iPhone, iPod or computer to buy the content.

The nice thing is that even is you have both the iPhone and a Kindle at home, Amazon’s program will conveniently sych the two so you can keep your place in whatever you were reading and seamlessly pick up where you left off on either. Nice.

P.S. It appears that at least one reader got the app to work outside of the US albeit not over the 3G network - see “update” from a Gadget Lab reader in Japan at bottom of post.

Cruise around WIRED’s Gadget Lab for updates and reviews on other favorite things- cameras, laptops, etc. A very useful site.

March 4, 2009

Kindlers can now read their e-books on the iPhone. Amazon has pushed a Kindle application to the iTunes Apps Store barely a week after the Kindle 2 appeared. We wouldn’t be surprised if the launches were supposed to be simultaneous and the iPhone reader was just delayed by Apple’s problematic vetting process.

The application, like the Kindle itself, is only available in the US of A, which sadly makes sense: you’ll need a US-only Kindle account to use it. The app just grabs the books already bought from Amazon and you can read samples and even buy e-books from the iPhone.

Kindle for iPhone also supports Whispersynch, grabbing updates over the air and letting you read your books on various devices. It even supports auto-bookmarking, so you can put down your Kindle, head out to the shops and seamlessly continue reading on your iPhone as you wait at the checkout.

I’m outside of the US, so I can’t try it. According to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, though, the page turning is a little clunky. Unlike Stanza, where you just touch the side of the page to flip to the next, the Kindle app requires a finger swipe every single time. With the tiny page size of the iPhone’s screen, this will get old pretty fast.

Still, it’s free, and I want it. I also want a Kindle. Sometimes it sucks not living in the US. But hey, at least we have Spotify.

UPDATE: Gadget Lab reader Hunter just got in touch to tell us about the new application. He’s in Japan right now, but his US iTunes account means that he can download and use the Kindle app. Here’s what he told us:

I’m in Tokyo…and have had no trouble using the new iPhone Kindle app.

I have an Amazon Kindle account on a US credit card with a US billing address and get books through the Kindle download-to-computer the normal way. I got the free app about 3 pm today and immediately got access to my 47 already-purchased Kindle books.

I just ordered another (on my computer) and after turning off the iPhone Kindle app and turning it back on again, the new book was registered on it. Took about 2 minutes from order to on my phone.

So yes, you CAN use this app outside the States, and it appears to coming over the wireless connection with my Apple MacBook Pro. Or over Apple Airport. I will be experimenting to see if it also can come over the normal 3G iPhone network.

By way of evidence, see below for an image I snapped a little while ago of a friend’s book.

Technorati Tags: Amazon, cell phone, iphone, kindle, kindle for iphone

Thanks to Brad Stone at the NY Times for this recent blog post about Amazon’s entry into the iPhone app arena…

Amazon.com Invades the Apple App Store

Amazon.com will join the iPhone frenzy… with a new application available free for download through Apple’s App Store.

The software is relatively straightforward, offering a way for iPhone or iPod Touch owners to browse through all the products offered by Amazon.com, as well as by third-party retailers like Target and Macy’s that make their products available online through Amazon.

There is, however, one unusual and noteworthy aspect of the app called Amazon Remembers, which Amazon is calling “experimental.” The tool lets users take a photograph of any product they see in the real world. The photos are then uploaded to Amazon and turned over to the far-flung freelance workers in Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program, who will try to match them with products for sale on Amazon.com. The results will not be instantaneous (between 5 minutes and 24 hours, the company says), but the idea is to entice consumers to buy products from Amazon instead of its offline rivals.

Amazon Remembers is similar to other features Amazon has introduced this year in its continuing effort to filch sales from other Web sites and retailers. TextBuyIt, a mobile messaging service introduced in April, lets people send a text message to Amazon at 262966 with the name of a product or a search term. It then replies with a number of buying options.

Another new feature that Amazon introduced this year, Universal Wish List, is a Web browser toolbar that lets people directly add the products they covet to their Amazon account when they see them on other Web sites.

AOL RADIO- GET RADIO WORLDWIDE - LOCAL CHANNELS AVAILABLE VIA GPS LOCATOR 

How cool is this? I recently discovered that AOL Radio is available for the iPhone. I love this feature on my laptop and am glad it is now available for my phone. AOL Radio offers 350 music, sports, talk and news stations and will find local radio stations for you to choose from via your GPS locator or you can listen to channels in far flung places.- whatever suits your fancy.

Watch this You Tube video about this feature and then visit the App Store to download this free app.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Amazon, AOL Radio, App Store, Apple, iphone app, New iphone applications