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Amazon.com knows that Apple iPhone users aren’t the only smartphone-toting readers out there, and so on Feb. 18 it announced the Kindle for BlackBerry app, now available as a free app from Amazon.com.
BlackBerry owners can also download the app by typing amazon.com/kindlebb into their BlackBerry browser.
“Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available today,” Ian Freed, vice president of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement.
“Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way for customers to continue reading their current book wherever they are – in between meetings, at the grocery store or waiting in the doctor’s office. We think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on their BlackBerry.”
Kindle for BlackBerry is supported by seven BlackBerry smartphones: the Bold 9000, Bold 9700, Curve 8520, Curve 8900, Storm 9530, Storm 9500 and Tour 9630.
From a BlackBerry device, Kindle for BlackBerry users can search and browse more than 420,000 books, with the option of reading a few pages before committing to a purchase.
Amazon’s servers also store each user’s library of previously purchased Kindle books, making them easily accessible, and with Whispersync technology, a user can synchronize the last page she read on various Kindle-compatible devices, including the Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod Touch, PCs, the above-mentioned BlackBerry devices and, soon, Macs and the Apple iPad.
On BlackBerry devices, users are also able to adjust text size and read books – such as children’s books or cookbooks – in full color.
While the app is free, the majority of the books, according to Amazon, are priced around $10.
On Dec. 28, Amazon officials said the Kindle was its most gifted item ever, and that, on Dec. 25, for the first time ever, it sold more e-books than physical books.
Among those working to cut into the tremendous success of the Kindle and the growing e-reader market are Sony, with its Reader Daily Edition, and Barnes & Noble, with the Nook. The Apple iPad, scheduled to arrive in March, is also expected to steal away a few potential Kindle buyers.