Contrary to conventional wisdom, the recent tech sectors have been in a huge uproar over what many are calling the evolution of the printed word. With major newspapers around the country failing, book sales plummeting, and the misguided attempts toward environmentalism through minor reformist green washing it seems that publishing in general is being forced to a purely digital landscape.
Though it is true that physical copies of sources like periodicals and books have a place in our social society, many people think that we can forgo that attachment completely in an effort to force forward toward technological singularity. This electronic synergy is forced by the consolidation of all entertainment and communication items into single entities, not in a smart part pushed by things like PDAs, smart phones like the iPhone, and the up and coming tablet PCs.
Now we have the Kindle, a device developed and marketed by the mammoth Amazon.com. It promises to bring the book experience to a small electronic device that is easy to read, fine for commerce, and practical for most people. Though it does not take into account the absence of economic exchange that normally occurs with book use by people, the reaction by the business and journalistic community is enough to gain some converts. Though the Kindle has a special design that is intended to be specific for reading text, the iPhone itself has been integrating e-books as part of their media menu. Amazon has extended its promotional branding of the Kindle by offering this service for the iPhone in a free application correctly titled Kindle for iPhone.
Kindle for iPhone is really just a commercial application that allows you to purchase e-books easily. The program allows you to use your Amazon.com account information and use this to browse the selections. You have a number of different use options when you are in the program. You can look at samples of the books for free, usually boiling down to just being the first chapter.
eBooks are specially marked. Once you purchase one, you can then go back and read it anytime even if it was somehow removed from your iPhone. There are many deals and special options here, including deals on New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases staying around $9.99. The browsing interface is pretty close to the normal Amazon.com website, including its ease of use when proceeding to checkout.
Whether or not this Kindle application is going to do much for you depends on whether you like to read books on your iPhone and if you are going to spend the money to do so. There are other applications that offer more free content, which may be a good place to start. Six out of ten stars.
