Microsoft announced the debut of "Kindle for PC," a free application for reading Kindle
e-books on PCs, during the Oct. 22 launch of its Windows 7 operating
system.
In addition to displaying Kindle e-books on desktops and
laptops, the application also allows users to download Kindle books from
Amazon.com’s Kindle Store. In addition to proprietary Kindle e-readers and PCs,
users can also access their books on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
News of the Kindle application was announced during the
Windows 7 launch event in New York City. Headlined by Steve Ballmer, the event
was designed to emphasize both Windows 7 and Microsoft’s full-throated embrasure
of its "three screens and a cloud" strategy, in which its operating system
powers a variety of devices—smartphones, televisions and PCs—whose data is
stored in the cloud.
Windows 7 also includes touch-screen functionality that comes
into play with the Kindle app, with users able to navigate through pages by
swiping the screen, as well as zoom in and out with a finger-pinching motion. In
a bit of cloud-synchronization technology, bookmarks saved on Kindle e-books
being read on the PC will transfer onto a Kindle device, as will the automatic
forwarding to the last page read.
Much of that functionality, although likely in development
for weeks and months, seems a direct counter to the functionality in a new
e-reader, the Nook, being produced by Barnes & Noble. Announced on Oct. 20
in a New York City event, the
Nook also allows e-books from its online store to be ported from its proprietary
e-reader onto other devices, and lets users transfer their bookmarks between
devices.
Perhaps in response to the Nook, Amazon.com chopped the price
of its Kindle device by another $20. Now $259, the device can download books in
the U.S. and 100 other countries through a built-in AT&T 3G wireless
connection.
In the same motion, Amazon.com also eliminated a
U.S.-downloads-only version of the device that it had previously been selling at
that $259 price point. Amazon now markets the Kindle and the $489 Kindle DX,
which features a 9.7-inch screen in contrast to the original Kindle’s 6-inch,
and is still only capable of downloading within the U.S.
That price-lowering, combined with the new Kindle PC app,
suggests that Amazon.com sees the Barnes & Noble device as yet another
competitive threat in the increasingly crowded e-reader space.
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