iMore's authoritative guide to the very best, absolutely free ebook, comic book, and article reading apps for iPad

Looking for great free reading apps for your iPad? The App Store is home to over half a million apps and games, and a surprising number of them are available for free. Some of the most popular free apps are free reading apps. We're talking ebooks, comic books, web articles, and more. So start reading, and then start downloading!

iBooks

iBooks is Apple's free ebook and PDF reading app for iPad. It's a stylish way to read not only books purchased from the iBookstore, but all the free books from the massive Project Gutenberg library as well as any of your own ePub or PDF files.

• Download Now

Readability

Readability offers a gorgeous way to read articles from your favorite website without the distraction of ads and other fluff -- for free! You simply set up your free account and add articles with a bookmarklet . A lot of other apps, like Twitter, offer Readability support so that you can add articles directly from those apps.

• Download Now

Kindle

The free Kindle App for iPad is Amazon's ebook reader. Unlike Apple's iBooks, Kindle is cross-platform. If you already have a large Kindle book collection, free or otherwise, or you just want to keep your options open for the future, Kindle is a great choice.

Comics

Comics isn't only the best way to buy new Marvel, DC, Image, and other comic books, but it also includes 500 free comics and one of the best reading interfaces in the App Store!

• Download now

Pocket

Pocket -- the new name for Read it Later -- is a free iPad app that lets you save optimized version of articles and photos and just about anything you encounter on the web and social networks for offline viewing at your leisure and convenience. (You can save videos too, but still need to be online to watch them later.)

• Download Now

More free iPad apps

For dozens of additional free iPad apps, including free instant messenger and communications apps, education apps, entertainment apps, finance apps, fun and games apps, health and fitness apps, kids apps, music apps, navigation and location apps, news apps, photography apps, productivity apps, reading apps, shopping apps, sports apps, travel apps, and general utility apps, see here:

• Best free iPad apps

Leanna Lofte contributed significant sections and photographs to this article.

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include a unique photography app, a solution for reading sheet music on the iPad, an alternative to iBooks, an awesome flying game, a web app alternative for a popular native iPhone application, a new way to view your Instagram feed, and the best way to get comic books onto your iPad.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

Paper Camera -- Alli

This is another one of those apps that's available on both Android and iOS. Of course, it has a few more options for iOS right now, but that could change at any time in the continual game of cat and mouse between iOS and Android.

Paper Camera gives you new views of your world. View it in pastels, black and white, or as a cartoon. The filter above is called Comic Boom, and makes everything look hand drawn. There are bunches of filters, and half the fun is just looking at things through the different filters.

One of the really nice things with Paper Camera is that you're not limited to taking new photos through the Paper Camera filters. You can put a filter on an existing photo from your album.

I should mention the big feature that the iOS version has that Android hasn't caught up with yet - you can shoot video through these filters on iOS. Sweet, eh?

$0.99 - Download Now

GoodReader -- Gary Mazo

I find that I use my iPad more and more in ways I would not imagined just a couple of years ago. One of my favorite uses of my iPad is as a repository for all my sheet music.

I am an avid piano player and have amassed literally thousands of pieces of sheet music over the years. Most was in loose-leaf format or in old piano books from when I was younger and lots was through digital music delivery or scans of music I had borrowed from friends.

I needed a way to get it all in one place and the iPad was going to be that place. Enter GoodReader from Good.iWare.

GoodReader is an app that supports PDF files, all Office files, iWord files, web archives and high-resolution images. Files are transferred either via iTunes document transfer or (and this is my favorite way to do it) via wireless transfer. Just touch the wireless transfer button and it finds your computer (if you are on the same Wi-Fi network) and you use the computer as a server. Select a file on your computer and – like magic – it shows up on GoodReader.

Once in the app, I can adjust the sort order, annotate PDF files (which is great for music) change the orientation, layout, jump around, search and more. I just swipe to the left to advance pages - which is so nice in a long piece of music – and can even pinch to zoom in on hard to read sections.

The only downside to GoodReader is that when I go to visit friends with pianos in their homes and they say “too bad we didn’t ask you to bring music with you” I can no longer say “that is too bad” if I have my iPad around!

Are you using GoodReader? Do you have other ways of viewing sheet music on your iPad? Join in the discussion in the forums!

$4.99 - Download Now

Kindle for iPad -- iMuggle

My new iPad has really gotten me more interested in reading on it than any other device has. The iPhone is just too small and I've always had some type of vendetta against eBooks. That's starting to change and I've been enjoying sitting back with my iPad and reading.

The Kindle and iBooks apps are both great for reading. I've found myself using the Kindle app a lot more often for some reason. I think I just prefer the interface. It's easy to use and since it was updated to support the new iPad's retina display, it's better than ever.

I still find myself using iBooks for PDFs but switching over to the Kindle app to read actual books. I like the idea of being able to read Kindle books on multiple devices on more than one platform. If I ever decided to purchase another type of device, I'd most likely be able to use my books on that device too.

If you haven't checked out the Kindle app or what they have available for purchase, I'd highly recommend it.

Free - Download Now

Air Wings -- Bla1ze

Looking for a pretty awesome flying game? Air Wings is where it's at. The concept is to fly around gathering up coins and weaponry to use against other players as it is a multiplayer game. You have multiple planes you can choose from to purchase, it offers in game voice chat with 6 multiplayer levels to play through. In addition to all that, it was recently updated with new graphics for the new iPad as well, so it looks great. Air Wings is available for free in the iTunes store with in-app purchases starting at $.99 -- I make this clear because you'll want to grab at least one additional airplane pack in order to really get into the game.

Free - Download Now

SoundBest Player -- SimonSage

A non-game iOS app caught my eye for a change this week. Rather, it caught my ear. SoundBest Player is a sharp, simple music player that mostly replicates the native music player in both layout and function, with one significant difference: within it is built a custom equalizer. When you first start up the app, it takes you through a short hearing test, and builds a a custom listening profile which changes the way your songs sound. You can save multiple custom profiles, and turn the equalizer off and on very easily. There are also presets for different genres of music, but aside from that, you have access to your usual library of playlists and songs sorted by album, artist, or by individual track. There's full compatibility with playback control from the dock, lock screen, and headphones with in-line hardware.

SoundBest just came out this week, but there are a few alternatives already available that I haven't tried out, like EQ 10 and Equalizer; the latter actually looks pretty good. It's hard to describe the difference between music played through SoundBest versus the vanilla music app, but if you've ever played around with the equalizer in iTunes on your Mac, you'll know what to expect.

$2.99 - Download Now

The YouTube Web App -- JorjLim

As a frequent vlogger, Youtube is my second home; and the built in Youtube app, is quite frankly, rubbish! It lacks simple functionality, like autocomplete, and replying to comments, it doesn’t offer any functionality that a video creator would want, like editing video info or checking channel stats and its really slow!

An alternative is the Youtube web app, and if offers all the functionality that the native app is missing, and so much more.

As a viewer, you get all the standard functionality of ‘liking’ and ‘disliking’, adding to favourites and commenting. The search even has autocomplete! You can also reply to other comments directly, share on more social networks like Facebook and Google+, and you can select to play the video in high quality or low quality regardless if you’re on 3G or Wifi.

As a content creator, you can view, and respond to your mail, edit video details and remove videos on the go.

One of the greatest features that I found in the web app, is the leanback remote. You can connect the iPhone to the youtube leanback experience, and ‘airplay’ your Youtube videos and playlists to your TV or computer without the need for an AppleTV.

I’ve switched totally from the native app to the web app, and I have never looked back!

Gramory -- llofte

I love Instagram, but the native Instagram app isn't exactly awesome. The scrollable timeline is cool and all, but sometimes I'm forced to scroll through a lot of "meh" photos that I'm not particularly interested in. I love Gramory because it lets me see 20 photos at once as thumbnails so that I can pick and choose which ones I want to see bigger. It also has a very nice multi-plane UI.

The other feature that a lot users like is that you can filter photos by trends -- something that the official Instagram app doesn't allow.

Free - Download Now

Comics - Rene Ritchie

Comics was the best way to buy new comic books for iPhone and iPad, and now that the new iPad is out with it's killer Retina display, Comics has updated to take advantage of it. Comics hasn't just updated their own user interface, mind you, they've launched CMX-HD, a new format to best show off the content as well. What's more, since Comics' developer, ComiXology also makes the official Marvel, DC, Image, and other apps, all of them benefit from the new technology. Win. Win. Win. (You get the idea.)

And yeah, this stuff looks fantastic on the new iPad.

FREE - Download

• Marvel version
• DC version

Tell us your pick!

Those were our picks, iMore Nation, so now it's your turn! Tell us your pick of the week below. Give us the name of your favorite app, site, or accessory, and tell us why it made your life more productive, more informed, more entertaining, or just plain more fun. Jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Harry Potter fans everywhere can now enjoy their favorite wizards and witches right on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch exclusively through the Pottermore shop. All seven of the Harry Potter books are now available for download. The first three books in the series are available for $7.99 each while the last four books are available for $9.99. If you'd prefer to purchase all of them, you can save yourself a little bit of money by buying all of them together for $57.54.

While it's great to be able to read the Harry Potter books in eBook format on many platforms, I'd have to say I'm a bit irritated with the process users will have to go through in order to get them on their devices.

Since they're only available via the Pottermore shop, you'll have to download them to your computer and either transfer them to iBooks via iTunes or open them natively from your device (for example, from a Dropbox or Box.net directory) and choose to open them in iBooks. It's not the most convenient way to download a book and definitely a bit more aggravating than just opening the iBooks store and making a purchase with your iTunes account.

The Harry Potter series is also available for many other eBook readers as well. If you prefer using the Kindle app for iOS, you can choose to download them into your Kindle account and access them normally from there. I'd almost prefer using this method as I'd always be able to sign into my Amazon account on a new or freshly reformatted device and be able to access them without going through the iBooks process all over again.

I have a feeling a lot of hardcore Harry Potter fans will probably overlook the minor annoyance of getting the content onto their devices and will just be glad to finally have Harry Potter available in digital format. I'll personally be using the Kindle app as it seems to be the most convenient as of now. Any of you plan on picking up HP in digital format?

Note: The website only seems to work for people in the U.S. and the U.K. right now -- anyone else isn't able to purchase. Anyone know a good avada kedavra curse for prehistoric licensing and commerce models?

Source: Pottermore

With the new iPad around the corner, there are lots of people wondering if now is the time to jump into the wonderful world of tablets. Of course, the new iPad will be the first one many first timers will look at. Many savvy shoppers, however, will also take a look at the alternatives before taking the plunge. That's especially true of low-cost alternatives like the BlackBerry PlayBook, Amazon Kindle Fire, and smattering of other bargain bin Android tablets (like the $100 ZTE Optik). The question is simple: how much are you willing to spend, and what value can you get for your money?

Screen size

Other tablets might be smaller and cheaper, bigger and more expensive, or just different. Which one gives you what you need?

The most obvious sacrifice you tend to make when it comes to budget tablets is screen size, which might not actually be all that much of a bad thing if you're looking for something portable. The PlayBook, even with its 7-inch display, can still handle HD video playback respectably. The Amazon Kindle Fire is the same size, and is tied into all of Amazon's book, video, and music services.

The advantage of the smaller screen size is that you can fit it into a jacket pocket, and hold it for longer periods of time without getting tired. It's closer to a one-handed tablet than the two hands typically required for an iPad.

The down side is that a smaller screen restricts the type of apps you can run. As a result, with 7-inch tablets you typically get scaled up smartphone apps rather than the bigger, tablet-specific apps you get on the iPad. Also, for some bigger really is better when it comes to watching video, gaming, or reading.

If portability is your primary concerns, check out the PlayBook and the Kindle Fire. If screen size matters to you, check out the iPad.

Media and Apps

It's not just screen size that matters, but the quality and quantity of apps and media available to fill that screen

There's no other way to say it: compared to the iPad and the App Store, the BlackBerry PlayBook App World ecosystem is sorely lacking. This is the next sacrifice you make when aiming for budget tablets. Even within the massive Android market, Android tablet apps have been very slow to appear. On both platforms you can run Android smartphone apps, but the experience isn't even close to the same. (Just like running iPhone apps on the iPad is doable but not especially enjoyable.)

For games and really big name apps, it probably won't matter. You'll find what you need to get by. But if you want really great software and more importantly, a choice of several really great apps in any given category, it's something to consider.

Media -- books, TV shows, movies, and music -- varies more from platform to platform. Amazon, of course, is a content power house and there's an argument to be made that the Kindle Fire is as much a portal to the massive Amazon store as it is a tablet. The only catch is, Amazon media is almost entirely exclusive to the U.S. You can find Amazon MP3 in a few other countries, but compared to Apple's international iTunes availability, depending on where you live, the Kindle can end up being little more than a paperweight. Media on the PlayBook is more of a mixed bag, with apps and sync filling in some of the gaps, but nothing to compare with the content offerings from Amazon or iTunes.

If you're happy with the basics and already have a lot of your own content, you can go with a cheaper tablet. If you want the best choice of the best apps and an easy way to buy more content, go with the iPad.

Performance and user experience

How well a tablet runs its software and how much you enjoy using it should be weighed against how much money you can save

Although the PlayBook saw significant price cuts due to slow sales and adoption, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 runs really well on the hardware. Amazon has also fixed a lot of the bugs and performance issues that plagued the original Kindle Fire release and the user experience is now much smoother and more enjoyable.

Budget Android tablets tend to be more problematic. Delayed OS updates, wonky manufacturer customizations, and sketchy hardware performance can all make for a poor time on Android.

With the iPad you get what you pay for. A really smooth, really polished user experience that almost always keeps you focused on what you're doing without the distractions of poor or glitchy performance. It's a cliche but it just works.

One thing PlayBook and Android can boast over iOS, however, is a more open ecosystem, at that combined with a lower pricetag may be worth sacrifice if you're willing (or eager) to tweak your device.

If you want a good mix of performance and price, the Playbook followed more distantly by the Kindle Fire is worth checking out. If you value price over performance, budget Android tablets are worth a look. If you put a premium on performance and user experience, you'll ultimately enjoy the iPad more.

The budget iPad

While the iPad 2 doesn't have Retina display, LTE options, or a real camera, it's $100 cheaper

There's another choice worth considering in the budget tablet debate: the iPad 2. While it hasn't reached the $199 level of the BlackBerry PlayBook or Amazon Kindle Fire, Apple did keep last year's iPad 2 around at a discounted $399 price. If you don't mind missing out on a Retina display, faster graphics, LTE options, or better cameras, give it a look.

• iPad 2 vs the new iPad: Which should you get?

Apple also offers refurbished iPads, currently both first generation and iPad 2, via their online store. So if you're on a budget but have your heart set on an iPad, Apple's refurbished iPad store is worth a look.

Any questions?

Overall, if you're on a budget, you can typically find a decent (if not great) tablet alternative to the new iPad for $300 less. You're sacrificing app selection, screen size, and resolution, but you're gaining a wider variety of options when it comes to hardware configuration and software accessibility. Personally, it's easy for me to side with the new iPad -- I can only imagine that the disparity in gaming performance with anything else is going to be huge.

If money is tight, however, it can be really difficult to decide how much you can or will spend on a tablet. Lower cost doesn't always translate into better value, but the reality it, tablets aren't as critical as phones or computers, and there's only so much gadget money to go around. If you've already tried out the BlackBerry PlayBook, Amazon Kindle Fire, or another budget tablet, share your thoughts. If you have more questions or want more opinions, we're here to help.

• New iPad help forum

Amazon has joined the trend set by Samsung in knocking Apple in its commercials. Amazon’s latest commercial for its range of Kindle devices goes all out to make the point that you can buy three Kindle devices for the cost of one iPad. That would be two Kindle Fire tablets and one Kindle which would come to a total cost of $477.

This is not the first time that Amazon has made comparisons with the iPad. In a previous Kindle commercial, Amazon made the point that the Kindle was easier to read in direct sunlight, is smaller, lighter and less expensive than Apple’s iPad too. This time it is purely about the price and no mention of feature comparisons.

The Kindle Fire does appear to be the closest competitor to the iPad so far. It is extremely cheap to buy at just $199 however it also lacks a lot of the main features that the iPad has to offer. It will be interesting to see how it is selling if Amazon ever reveals any figures.

Source: TNW

There's an interesting debate taking place about the merits and virtues of modern electronic books like Apple's iBooks or Amazon's Kindle books and their traditional counterparts -- old fashioned paper bound and proper.

They're qualitatively different, inarguably. The feel of board and cloth and leather is warm and textured compared to the crisp coolness of glass, aluminum, and plastic. The gentle sound of pages flipping is vastly different than a tap or swipe or click. The sharp smell of a fresh new novel or musky scent of an old tome exists in a different dimension from the relative sterility of chips and displays.

Yet the weight, permanence, and nostalgia of traditional books can be a disadvantage when it comes to carrying them, correcting them, and moving the state of the art of knowledge forward once again.

Ben Brooks laments this, almost romantically.

I can tell you from first hand experience that the reading experience is very different on each of the different mediums and that’s why the distinction matters to me. I don’t care which version you bought because it changes what you read, but I do care because it may not be the same as the book I read (sometimes in the minor content differences, but always in experience and layout).

Marco Arment does not, functionally.

When I start reading, the form of the book quickly disappears. Just as I don’t notice the individual letters in each word, I stop noticing the layout, the font, the paper, the binding, and every other physical artifact because I’m focused on the writing.

Dieter Bohn thinks we're getting ahead of ourselves.

With ebooks, we're still looking at the equivalent of the day after Gutenberg printed his first Bible. We need to decide which paper book "specs" are important and ensure that they get recreated in our new digital world. We also need to ensure that these digital equivalents are at least as free and unfettered as paper books are now. We've already surpassed paper technology in a number of areas. However we are not giving nearly enough attention to the very things that made paper books flourish in the first place. The most important specs are the ones you take for granted.

Here's the thing -- once upon a time we passed down our stories between generations. Then we carved them into stone, brushed them on papyrus, illuminated them on scrolls, and eventually pressed them into print. We lost the voices of our parents, the lines of our hand, the power of our art, the uniqueness of our craft. But we gained volume and the democratization of information. Beauty gave way to volume.

Each transition has been painful. Each transition has been decried and denounced. Yet, inexorably, the new has overtaken the old. Even if it's never fully supplanted it. We still tell stories. We still practice calligraphy. We still work at leading and kerning. iBooks and eBooks won't wipe out traditional books any more than non-traditional books wiped out message mediums older than they. Those mediums will shrink, perhaps, and become the providence of craftsman and collectors, enthusiasts and artists, and the very same folk who still enjoy wooden toys, vinyl albums, and pre-iPhone phones.

Meanwhile, iBooks, Kindle books, and other forms of digital books will continue to crawl out of the primordial ooze and make more content more available to more people (and children) than ever before. And perhaps they'll recapture some of the magic of mediums past, the way Audible has voice and InDesign has done digital press.

iBooks, Kindle books, and their ilk are not perfect, not yet and maybe never, but they're the future. Until the next transition.

According to Pew Research, tablet ownership among U.S. consumers nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent over the holiday season.

The Pew project conducted three surveys, one in mid-December and two at the beginning of 2012. The results show a marked increase in ownership of tablets, e-readers, and the hybrids that exist somewhere between those two categories.

Pew and Venturebeat seem eager to credit the jump almost purely to Amazon Kindle Fire and other, similar low-priced entrants. That's not entirely unfair since, frankly, cheap and good-enough sells. These are also U.S. numbers, which is the only market Amazon is competing in at the moment.

Apple will likely give us iPad 2 holiday numbers during their Q1 2012 conference call tomorrow. Amazon so far has declined to give specific Kindle numbers, and that may not change any time soon.

One thing is for certain -- it may finally be a tablet market, not just an iPad market, and a growing one at that. (And Apple hasn't even release the anticipated iPad 3 yet, so stay tuned.)

Source: Pew Research Center via VentureBeat

Amazon has launched a new web based Kindle Store designed specifically for the iPad. The new site looks and feels like an actual app rather than a web page however you don’t need to install anything to use the store.

Books are laid out in a cover flow arrangement and you can swipe through the books, click on the covers to see more information, read reviews and of course buy a book. If you do make a purchase, the book is automatically sent to your designated reading device. If you can’t wait that long, you can even read it within the new Kindle Store web page because Amazon has now made its Cloud Reader compatible with the iPad too. If you have your iPad handy, simply visit  http://www.amazon.com/iPadKindleStore to take a look at the new layout.

These are Seth's most used apps of 2011. Others have their own most used apps, but these are Seth's.

Tweetbot

I've come to rely on Twitter for far more than the occasional distraction from my day, and Tweetbot has been the only app to deliver all the features I want in a package I like to look at. With support for TweetMarker syncing between clients, it's become my go-to place for news, conversation, and everything else Twitter has to offer.

• $2.99 - App Store link

Kindle

With a bigger selection than iBooks and a library I can share easily with my wife, the Kindle app is my reader of choice. Kindle delivers apps on almost every other platform you can think of, perfect syncing of reading position, and a simple, clean reading environment of which I never seem to tire.

• Free - App Store link

1Password

Couldn't run the office without it. I store everything in this app: passwords, software licenses, notes, screenshots of web pages - and so on. Absolutely the most indispensable app on my Mac, and always with me on my iPhone.

• $8.99 - App Store Link

Instacast

The winner in the great podcast client war of '11. I've tried almost everything available, and Instacast, though not perfect, is the best client for my needs, which consist of downloading podcasts quickly and playing them with minimal physical interaction required on my part. The addition of iCloud syncing and the appearance of Instacast HD late in the year definitely helped cement its place on my phone.

• $1.99 - iPhone App Store link
• $4. 99 - iPad App Store link

Pandora

This seemingly ancient app (in App Store years) is still one of my favorites. There are a million different music services on iOS, and there's something for everyone. But more often than not, all I want to do is hit play and let the app do the work, and Pandora still works better than most other things for me. Again, my wife and I share an account, so we are always discovering new stuff based on what the other person's given a thumbs-up to, and the removal of the 40-hour free account listening limit is the icing on the cake.

• Free - App Store link

Kindle has updated their iPhone and iPad app to version 2.9, which now includes support for newspapers, magazines and textbooks. Here's the full update log:

iPad:

• New Design for Magazines: Kindle for iPad customers now have access to the huge selection of over 400 magazines and newspapers that are available on Kindle Fire. Magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, Food Network Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Popular Science and many more are displayed in rich full-color pages. Customers can buy a single issue or subscribe to popular magazines and leading newspapers and have them wirelessly delivered to the Kindle for iPad app.
• Read print replica textbooks including rich formatting and layout of the print editions and support for notes and highlights, zoom and pan, and linked table of contents.

iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch: - Email documents to your new Send-to-Kindle e-mail address and we deliver them to your device. The documents are automatically archived in the Amazon Cloud and available for re-download on your iOS or supported Kindle devices. - Open PDFs from Mail or Safari, by transferring them from iTunes, or by sending them to your Send-to-Kindle email address. The Kindle PDF reader supports PDF table of contents and thumbnail navigation for quickly jumping through the document. - New library organization allows you to view your Kindle Books, Newsstand, and Docs.

Kindle for iOS is one of the better eBook reading apps out there, which even rivals Apple's own iBooks in a lot of respects. I, for one, personally prefer iBooks, but this update may give reason for those in similar opinion to make the jump into the Kindle eBook ecosystem.

• Free - App Store Link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Coffee lover, e-reader aficionado, and Instapaper developer Marco Arment put together what he describes as an informal survey of the current library landscape, including iPad and iBooks, Amazon's Kindle and Kindle app, the Nook color, and Kobo.

If you’re going to primarily read periodicals, get the iPad. If you’re going to read books, all of these platforms look like safe options.

Check out his comparison charts for books, magazines, and newspapers. It's not so much his results, which he cautions you take with a grain of salt, but the method he recommends for finding which device or app ecosystem is best for you that's compelling.

Source: Marco.org

Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs, is now available from both Amazon's Kindle Store and Apple's own iBookstore. Isaacson, who appeared earlier today on CBS' 60 Minutes, had unprecedented access to Jobs, his family, friends, colleagues, and rivals, and the book strives to show Jobs not only as one of the most innovative and influential people of his time, but also as a human, a family man, and more.

If you pre-ordered it, download and enjoy. If you haven't yet, here are the links.

• iBooks link
• Amazon link

If you want to read along with TiPb, we invite you to join us in our Forum Book Club...

Amazon has announced their iPad competitor and as rumor had it, it's called the Kindle Fire. The biggest news is the price -- only $199 for a 14.6 ounce, 7-in IPS 1024x600 169dpi display. It's dual core, Wi-Fi only, and has only 8GB of storage (plus free Amazon cloud) but again -- $199.

If you're looking for something that resembles the BlackBerry PlayBook, is running a fork of Android OS, and comes with all the content Amazon is happy to sell you, this could be a very compelling product. But if $199 is still too much for you to spend on a Kindle, just wait -- there's more! They've also announced an ultra-cheap classic-style Kindle for just $79, and a new Kindle Touch at $99 for Wi-Fi only and $149 for 3G. Those are the prices with ad-subsidized "special offers", however. They'll cost you $30-$40 more or so if you want them clean and ad-free.

Also, Amazon remains focused mainly on the US market and its international content offerings don't look to be improving just yet (though I'll continue to hold to hope given all the money Apple is making outside the US.)

Kudos to Amazon, though, for doing what Apple so far hasn't done -- release the iPad shuffle and iPad nano tablet price-points into the US market.

And hey, if you're thinking about pre-ordering, here are some handy links that let you test out the non-Apple waters, but still support your favorite Mobile Nations sites at the same time. Win. Win.

• $199 Kindle Fire
• $149 Kindle Touch 3G
• $99 Kindle Touch Wi-Fi
• $79 Kindle

For more on the Kindle Fire, jump over to Android Central's new Kindle Fire Forums, then jump back here and tell us what you think -- did Amazon just announce the first viable iPad competitor?

Fortune has released a Kindle eBook entitled “All About Steve, The Story of Steve Jobs and Apple from the Pages of Fortune. This is not to be confused with the authorized biography; that is not due until November. This book is written by the writers of Fortune and is based on past interviews and articles which appeared in the pages of Fortune.

Steve Jobs’ legacy is clear: The most innovative business leader of our time, the man FORTUNE named CEO of the Decade in 2009. Now from the pages of FORTUNE comes an anthology of 17 classic stories spanning the years 1983 to 2011 about the cultural icon who revolutionized computing, telephones, movies, music, retailing, and product design.

Source: Amazon

Rumor has it word that Amazon's rumored 7-inch tablet will be known as the "Kindle Fire", and in addition to a forked version of Android software, it might also be using a reduced cost version of the BlackBerry PlayBook hardware.

TechCrunch scored the name Kindle Fire, and says Amazon won't be ready to release it until the second week of November. Ryan Block from GDGT further broke down the reasons TechCrunch felt inclined to compare the form-factor of the Kindle Fire to that of the Blackberry Playbook:

My sources tell me that RIM originally outsourced much of the hardware design and production of the PlayBook to mega-ODM Quanta -- a company that builds, and sometimes helps design, hardware for name brands. The time eventually came that Amazon's executives decided to do an Android tablet -- far likelier to respond to the dark-horse success of the Nook Color than to the adjacent success of the iPad -- Amazon's own Kindle group (called Lab 126) apparently opted not to take on the project, in favor of continuing to work solely on next-gen E-Ink-based devices. From there, Amazon's team determined they could build a tablet without the help and experience of Lab 126, so they turned to Quanta, which helped them "shortcut" the development process by using the PlayBook as their hardware template.

Block seems worried about this "shortcut" move by Amazon on the hardware, but TechCrunch asserts that the user-experience is top notch thanks to custom Android software running the tablet. Regardless, it's an interesting pedigree to say the least.

Amazon has also apparently been working on last minute content deals with Fox for streaming movies and TV shows, and the tablet is expected to include their MP3 service and Kindle bookstore next to a proprietary Android Marketplace. Additionally, AllThingsD says a few big-name magazine publishers have signed on to provide content for the device.

When Amazon unveils its new iPad-like device on Wednesday, it will have the backing of at least three of the big magazine publishers: Hearst, Conde Nast and Meredith all have deals to sell digital versions of their titles on the new device, according to industry sources.

And then there's the pricing issue. It was previously speculated that Amazon would price the tablet at around $250 with the inclusion of a free Amazon Prime membership, which comes with their popular streaming video service and free shipping on all products across the site. It's now believed that Amazon may sell the Kindle Fire at $300 with Amazon Prime included, with another option available at $250 without the service.

We'll have to wait and see after the announcement on Wednesday, but so far the rumor buildup has my curiosity piqued. Could this actually be the first real iPad competitor everyone has been waiting for, or will it only grow the still maturing tablet market even more?

Source: TechCrunch, GDGT, AllThingsD

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Georgia, Seth, and Rene talk Apple's new Learn commercial, competitors still struggling, Amazon's rumored Android Kindle tablet, iOS 5 beta 7, Eddy Cue, Netflix without Starz, Facebook for iPad, and more. This is iPad Live!

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M.G. Siegler from TechCrunch claims he's gone hands-on with the future of iPad competition, and the future of Amazon's Kindle line -- a 7-inch full color, touchscreen tablet built on an Android core but entirely Amazon at the interface level. All for $250. If you think it sounds like the Nook Color, you're not wrong, it just trades the B&N brick-and-mortar shelves for Amazon's hugely popular homepage.

The interface is all Amazon and Kindle. It’s black, dark blue, and a bunch of orange. The main screen is a carousel that looks like Cover Flow in iTunes which displays all the content you have on the device. This includes books, apps, movies, etc. Below the main carousel is a dock to pin your favorite items in one easy-to-access place. When you turn the device horizontally, the dock disappears below the fold. [...] But the key for Amazon is just how deeply integrated all of their services are. Amazon’s content store is always just one click away. The book reader is a Kindle app (which looks similar to how it does on Android and iOS now). The music player is Amazon’s Cloud Player. The movie player is Amazon’s Instant Video player. The app store is Amazon’s Android Appstore.

With nary a Google app in sight. Phil Nickinson from Android Central says:

It'll still be interesting to see how a post-Nook Color Amazon tablet will compete. The Kindle's no longer the only game in town, and Barnes & Noble has a pretty good leg up by being a brick-and-mortar organization as well, plus it's got its excellent in-store customer training, which has to take a lot of the scare factor out of using the Nook. (One could argue that a proper tablet UI doesn't need any sort of training, but we digress.)

Everyone and their comment thread seems to be thinking this will be the first real competition to iPad (which is what they said about Xoom, PlayBook, TouchPad... you get the idea.) It well might. It'll be small. It'll be light. Amazon has a great checkout system and a compelling content story in the US (international is, as with every platform, a mixed bag of hurt.) Their hardware has never been great, however, and international sales have become increasingly important to Apple and iPad.

People like cheap, but cost and value aren't always the same thing -- as Apple has proven time and again. (Apple's competition hasn't, however, so maybe they'll be in even more danger from the KindleDroid?)

One thing is for certain -- Android is the new Linux.

[TechCrunch via Android Central]

Amazon just let us know that their Kindle Cloud Reader is now live, and lets you read any of their over 950,000 Kindle books right in Safari on iPad, Mac, or Windows, or Chrome on Windows, Mac, or Linux, without needing the Kindle app or hardware.

While there's no iPhone or iPod touch (it tells you your browser isn't supported and you should download Safari or Chrome, though hopefully a better intercept screen is in the works), it's a full HTML5 web app and includes offline storage. I've tried it out on iPad and it works quickly and cleanly. The Kindle Store is built in, so there's no jarring transition to the Amazon.com version of the store, and all the menus and options work really well. Likewise, the text is just a legible as it is in the app, and the WhisperSync works perfectly. Hopefully it keeps up that level of performance when personal libraries get really big.

With the controversy that arose in the wake of Apple's App Store subscription service, and the requirements to match pricing (since dropped) and remove links to external stores (still in effect), it felt like only a matter of time before Amazon would go this route. It will be interesting to see how many others follow.

Details and screen shots after the break. Anyone going to stop using the app and switch to the web app?

[www.amazon.com/cloudreader]

“We are excited to take this leap forward in our ‘Buy Once, Read Everywhere’ mission and help customers access their library instantly from anywhere,” said Dorothy Nicholls, Director, Amazon Kindle. “We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser. The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you’re using – from Chrome to iOS. To make it easy and seamless to discover new books, we’ve added an integrated, touch optimized store directly into Cloud Reader, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books.”

Features of Kindle Cloud Reader include: - An immersive view of your entire Kindle library, with instant access to all of your books - Start reading over 950,000 Kindle books instantly within your browser - An embedded Kindle Store optimized for your web browser makes it seamless to discover new books and start reading them instantly - New Kindle Store for iPad is built from the ground up for iPad’s touch interface - Your current book is automatically made available for offline use, and you can choose to save a book for reading offline at any time - Receive automatic software updates without the need to download new software - Select any book to start reading, customize the page layout to your desired font size, text color, background color, and more - View all of the notes, highlights, and bookmarks that you’ve made on other Kindle apps or on Kindle - Sync your last page read across your Kindle and free Kindle apps so you can always pick up where you left off

Kindle Cloud Reader is available for Safari on iPad, Safari on desktop and Chrome starting today. Kindle Cloud Reader on the iPad is optimized for the size and unique touch interface of iPad. Without even leaving the app, customers can start shopping in the Kindle Store and will find a unique and immersive shopping experience built specifically for iPad’s Safari browser.

Kindle Cloud Reader will be available on additional web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, the BlackBerry PlayBook browser, and other mobile browsers, in the coming months.

Amazon has released an update to its Kindle app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The update removes the Kindle Store button from the app to meet Apple’s terms and conditions. What is more interesting is that you can now read over 100 newspapers and magazines with high resolution color images.

• This update removes the Kindle Store button from the app.
• Read over 100 newspapers and magazines including The Economist and Reader’s Digest with high resolution color images. Visit the Kindle Store to subscribe to a newspaper or magazine and have each edition automatically delivered, or purchase individual issues.
• Customers who receive newspapers and magazines on Kindle can download recent editions to their iOS devices from Archived Items. Many newspapers and magazines are supported, and more are on the way.
• Share quotes and passages with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter while reading.

[Free – iTunes link]

UPDATE: Nook and Google Books apps have also been updated to remove links to their external stores.

Today, June 30, is supposedly the deadline for apps like Kindle to remove buttons or links to their external web stores or risk expulsion from Apple's iPhone and iPad App Store. Originally, Apple was requiring developers to not only remove external store links but also match any external sales and pricing with identical in-app purchase options (which would require giving Apple 30% of the price). Apple quietly stepped back from the content and price matching provisions earlier this month, but not the prohibition against external links.

So will Amazon update the Kindle app today with the Kindle Store button removed, will Apple "Sony" the Kindle app, and pull it from the App Store after the deadline expires, or will the Kindle app keep the button and stay in the store (either with Apple's permission or convenient silence)?

Apple makes and markets the competing iBooks and associated iBookstore for iOS.

If you close your eyes, you can almost see the transport ship racing towards the blockade lines...

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Bible: Now with audio! [Free - iTunes link]

• iBooks: Update brings improved responsiveness and a few bug fixes. [Free - iTunes link]

• School 26: Kate ‘s parents insist that they’ve finally found the right town. It’s not like she hasn’t heard that line before, but something does feel different. Help Kate tackle a new school and discover herself. [$2.99, iPhone - iTunes link] [$4.99, iPad - iTunes link]

• Kindle: Updated for german users. [Free - iTunes link]

• Berzerk Ball: How far can a geek fly? Find out by joining gamers who have smashed the geek over 142 million times! [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Despite growing competition as new tablets begin to enter the market, Apple's iPad is still king when it comes to consumer demand and customer satisfaction according to a recent ChangeWave survey.

The new research, which surveyed a total of 3,091 consumers just prior to Apple announcing the iPad 2, confirms the new tablet market has drawn high demand from consumers around the world, with a large majority interested in the iPad specifically. According to the survey, 82% of consumers planning on buying a tablet in the near future will be opting for an iPad, compared to the closest competition, the Motorola Xoom, coming in at only 4%.

On the customer satisfaction front the iPad garnered outstanding numbers among current owners, with 70% being 'very satisfied' with their purchase and 25% being 'somewhat satisfied'. Apple has always done well on the customer satisfaction so we're not surprised with these results. In addition to high customer satisfaction ratings, it looks like the iPad has continued to steal market share from eBook readers like the Amazon Kindle and further suggests the iPad has had a growing impact on netbook and notebook sales.

What does this all mean for Apple? Lack of competition for the original iPad meant their was nothing to stop them from establishing a dominant position in the tablet market. While the survey was conducted just as real competition began to show up, it was also before Apple even announced the iPad 2. So we have a strong suspicion Apple won't have any trouble keeping a strong position throughout 2011.

With the iPad 2 launching tomorrow in the US and other countries shortly after, do you think Apple has anything to worry about going forward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

[InvestorPlace]

Amazon has updated its Kindle app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and added in a few really nice features like real page numbering, percentage read, and Google and Wikipedia lookup.

Kindle now provides real page numbers to books from the Kindle Store. This basically means that Kindle books will mirror the print versions page numbers. This may not sound like a big deal but if you are reading in a group or in class it is very important . Also you can now see how far you have read as a percentage whilst reading the book and the app home screen now shows your progress in a list view.

Finally, and maybe one of the best new features is the ability to lookup words using Google and Wikipedia all from within the application.

The app still does not give you the ability to purchase books through in-app purchase or via iTunes. This apparently was the reason Sony's application was recently rejected. This is sure to fan the flames of the alleged upcoming war with Sony!

A point to note, after the update, most of my books would not open and had to be deleted and downloaded again. Let us know in the comments if you experience the same problem!

[iTunes- Link]

Apple has issued a statement saying they haven't changed any App Store guidelines in response to rumor this morning concerning the purported rejection of a Sony Reader app for not using Apple's in-app purchase system.

Since this could have a broader impact on apps like Kindle, Netflix and Hulu+. All Things Digital spoke with Apple's Trudy Miller who stated the following:

We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines, we are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase.

According to Apple these guidelines have been in place all along but haven't been enforced until now. Looking further into Apple's App Store review policy shows the following requirements:

11.2 Apps utilizing a system other than the In App Purchase API (IAP) to purchase content, functionality, or services in an app will be rejected

11.3 Apps using IAP to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside of the application will be rejected

So the bottom line seems to be Sony, Amazon, and anyone else can keep offering web-based and other outside-App Store content options but users also have to be able to buy the same content via in-app purchase through Apple's iTunes.

Content sellers would have to give 30% of sales to Apple but would receive Apple's hosting, credit card transaction processing, seamless integration, and other benefits in exchange.

Do you think this is a good move on Apple's part, or could it have a negative impact if companies like Amazon and Sony decide not to play ball? Let us know what you think in the comments!

[All Things Digital]

According to the New York Times, Apple has rejected a few apps recently including Sony’s Reader app, based on the way content is purchased for use within the app. Sony's Reader app is an eBook platform similar to Apple’s own iBooks app and the Amazon Kindle app. Content can be found and purchased outside the app, bypassing Apple's iTunes Store and therefore bypassing Apples slice of the pie.

According to Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading division, Apple told him that from now on, all future in-app purchases would have to go through Apple and this includes eBooks. Currently the Amazon Kindle bypasses the App Store too; when you select Kindle Store from within the Kindle app, you are taken to a web page where you can select, buy and pay for your book. This happens outside of iTunes and the App Store; Apple does not take any revenue from Kindle book purchases, but that now looks set to change.

Maybe this change is coming with the new magazine subscription service we expect to be implemented in iOS 4.3 and the launch of The Daily newspaper. Either way, this is another blow to the consumer, who will no doubt end up paying more and have less control of their content. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

[The New York Times]

Have an iPad and curious which are the best, most must-have reading apps you need to check out? Want to really get the most out of that big 9.7-inch screen? Well read on for TiPb's top 5 most recommended readings apps for your iPad.

Note: Many of the reader apps are free but individual books, issues, etc. are available via in-app purchase. Those prices vary.

eBook readers: Kindle for iPad

Amazon's Kindle eBook reader for iPad isn't as good looking as Apple's iBooks but simply has the largest library of titles and the most cross-platform support on the market. If you're looking for a book chances are you'll find it for the Kindle app, and if you buy it you'll be able to read it on iPhone, iPad, Kindle devices, and other smartphones. Better still, if you stop reading it on one device, thanks to WhisperSync you can pick up right where you left off on another device. Universal app - download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• iBooks from Apple which supports PDF, bookmarking, highlighting, and picture books. [Free - iTunes link]
• Stanza, purchased by Amazon is a favorite of those who like open, free eBooks and like to roll their own as well [Free - iTunes link]

Magazine readers: Zinio

Since neither Apple nor anyone else has been able to provide a real, multi-publisher iTunes-like experience for magazines, it's hard to pick one app as the best. Zinio at least comes close, with support for a wide variety of magazines across a wide array of devices. We're still waiting for our next-generation iMags but this will hold traditionalists over until we get there. Universal app - download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Unfortunately, as mentioned, the iPad magazine market is a mess, with tons of apps from tons of publishers, mostly just selling repackaged InDesign exports. If there's a magazine you love, search the App Store for it and there's a good chance you'll find an app for it, including everything from New Yorker to Popular Science to People.

Newspaper readers: Press Reader

Press Reader is much like Zinio, an attempt to provide a one-stop shop, in this case for newspapers. It boasts 1700 international papers in its library. Again, we're still waiting for Apple to pick up the subscription ball with an iNews-type solution, but in the meantime Press Reader gets the job done. Universal app - download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• The good news is, there are a lot of individual iPad newspaper apps. The bad news is there's a lot of individual iPad newspaper apps. Inarguably most of the big names are there -- Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today -- but just not in any organized manner. So, once again, you're left to search the App Store for your favorites.

Comic book readers: Comics

Comics by comixology is the closest thing to a unified comic books store on iOS. It helps that they also make the Marvel, DC, and Image apps using the same engine, but their own Comics apps is the only place to get stuff from all those publishers all in one place. The experience is the same across comics, Marvel, DC, and Image -- browse or search for books, download free samples, buy issues. You create an account, so you can access your library from other devices, like iPhone as well. Unfortunately some storylines don't have all issues available, and there are no bundled "trade paperback" style purchases... yet. Universal app - download once, use on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. [Free - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• Comic Viewer is for those who prefer to move their own CBZ and CBR files over to iPad. [$4.99 - iTunes link]
• Stanza for iPad also works with comic book files-ish. The dedicated readers are better but if you're into multitaskers and are already using Stanza for eBooks, no you're good to go [Free - iTunes link]

Web readers: Flipboard

Flipboard takes all the stuff you care about -- articles and pictures shared by your Facebook and Twitter friends along with the latest relevant headlines and presents them, with content and social comments, in a gorgeous, tactile iPad interface. A recent update has even added Google Reader support for RSS. You can customize it to your hearts content and share your own comments back. It's the closest we've come yet to a communal magazine. [Free - iTunes link]

• Reeder for iPad is a great way to keep up with your RSS news feeds. [$4.99 - iTunes link]
• Instapaper lets you save web articles to read later in a cleaner format. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best iPad reader apps to get you going. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPad App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

Google is expected to launch an online eBook store before the end of the year under the name of Google Editions and that once again puts the head to head against Apple and their new iBooks:

The long-delayed venture—Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer—recently has cleared several technical and legal hurdles, people close to the company say. It is set to debut in the U.S. by the end of the year and internationally in the first quarter of next year, said Scott Dougall, a Google product management director.

Google will handle their eBook store differently from how Apple or Amazon play the game, opting for a "read anywhere" model where users can purchase an eBook from Google (or an online retail partner) and it's added to an online library tied to your Google account. Users can then access their Google account from a number of devices including smartphones and tablets.

No word yet on revenue sharing (iBooks is 70/30), which publishing companies have signed up, or which partners will come on board. However, Google's reach is not to be underestimated:

Google says it is on a mission to reach all Internet users, not just those with tablets, through a program in which websites refer their users to Google Editions. For example, a surfing-related blog could recommend a surfing book, point readers to Google Editions to purchase it, and share revenue with Google. Through another program, booksellers could sell Google Editions e-books from their websites and share revenue with Google.

Keeping things on the cloud is nothing new for Google and it's worked well for services like Gmail. If Google Editions is successful could it have a negative impact on iBooks but, like Amazon's Kindle app, add value to iPad and iPhone at the same time?

Let us know in the comments!

[ WSJ ]

Apple's iPad is gaining fast on Amazon's Kindle in the battle for eBook reader dominance according to a new survey conducted by ChangeWave Research.

The Amazon Kindle (47%; down 15-pts) is hanging on to a rapidly diminishing lead over the Apple iPad (32%; up 16-pts) among current e-Reader owners.

iPad owners are also consuming different types of content (newspapers, magazines etc) that Kindle owners aren't engaging in, and recently market share for the iPad has doubled while the Kindle has seen a quickening decline. In addition, the survey shows 75% of iPad owners are Very Satisfied with their device, while only 54% of Kindle owners could say the same.

We know the iPad does a lot more than a Kindle but this survey was specific to e-Readers, which makes it particularly impressive given the Kindle's head start and the iPad's much higher price tag. It will be interesting to see how market shares shift between the two devices going forward, especially over this holiday season.

What about you, would you prefer an iPad over a Kindle when it comes to reading eBooks, newspapers or magazines? Let us know in the comments!

[InvestorPlace]

Ever since the iBooks was announced, this is probably the single biggest issue an avid ebook reader will ultimately have to deal with: Kindle app or iBooks. What should you pick? Well, no one can tell you that for certain, but I hope to give you a little insight that might help you decide.

The fundamental difference between the two is the Kindle app has a very large ebook selection by comparison. 750,000 ebooks on Kindle and 60,000 books at iBooks launch (Apple has not released exact numbers). To me, this is the differentiating factor. Both applications support landscape view with two columns and a built-in dictionary as well as syncing of bookmarks, highlights and notes. Let's look at some of the differences of each app beyond how many books they have.

(You can get our quick review of the Kindle app here and iBooks app here)

Kindle

The Kindle app is a free universal app so you can run it on any iOS device. You can tap the left or right of the screen to turn pages and tap the top right corner to bookmark a page. You have several levels of font sizes and colors to choose from to help create your reading experience as good as it can be. You can even sync your annotations to other devices that support Kindle, that includes any iOS device, Mac, PC, Android and BlackBerry as well as Amazon's own Kindle.

There are a couple of innovative features that the Kindle has brought to the ebook table. First the Kindle app displays popular highlights in a book via underlined text while you read. You can easily see what other people have highlighted, quotes or whole passages. Second is data supplied by Shelfari. This content includes summary, character, spoilers and more; not a bad benefit. On the iPad, you can turn on a page turning feature similar to iBooks, but it is not has smooth or pays as much attention to detail as Apple's iBooks. On iPad, you have to different ways to view your library; big icons that can use pinch to zoom to resize as needed or an alphabetical list. I like both options depending on my mood, but what is lacking is a manual arrange function; You only can sort by Recent, Author or Title.

Since Kindle books are in the cloud, there is no need to sync your book on any desktop. Simple navigate to the archive in Kindle and redownload your book and it will then sync your bookmarks and other annotations.

iBooks

These are all very nice touches iBooks. The look, feel and options are fantastic. However, content is king, just like available software for a platform and regretfully, iBooks falls flat on its face. 9 out of 10 books I search for on iBooks comes up empty. This is very disheartening. I remember in the early days of the Kindle, they only had a 100,000 ebooks or so and are now approaching one million. Sadly, iBooks is not even up to 100,00o yet. I have hopes that Apple will forge the relationships needed to foster a growing library.

Alas, at this time, Kindle really is the better choice for content and iBooks is a much better app. In the end, what s more important to you; books you can actually read, or a pretty application?

Amazon's new Kindle ad says a) it's easier to read an ebook on in direct sunlight, b) it's smaller and lighter, and c) it's way less expensive than Apple's iPad.

It doesn't show what happens when the guy spins his chair around, quickly corrects a PowerPoint pitch so he doesn't have to go back to the office, wows the bikini lady with Epic Citadel, then looks up a great restaurant on the full color web, gets directions from maps, and takes her off to dinner while they listen to streaming music.

This is the second Amazon Kindle ad to feature a lady in the sun; interesting demo they're targeting. Video after the break.

Amazon's new Kindle comes in a smaller, darker package and they're positioning it to compete with Apple's iPad (which can also read Kindle books) on price ($139 for Wi-Fi $189 for 3G) and a laser-like focus on reading.

• All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
• New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
• New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6" size reading area
• 17% Lighter – Only 8.5 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
• Battery Life of Up to One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
• Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
• Built-In Wi-Fi – Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
• 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
• Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
• New WebKit-Based Browser – Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

Much smarter than simply trying to re-brand it as KindlePad...

[Amazon]

Amazon has announced Kindle Editions with Audio/Video and it looks like the only way you can get it right now is on iPhone and iPad. Kindle Editions with Audio/Video:

allows readers to enjoy the benefits of embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books. The first books to take advantage of this new technology, including Rick Steves' London by Rick Steves and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway, are available in the Kindle Store

"In the new Kindle Edition with audio/video of Rick Steves' London, the embedded walking tours allow customers to listen to Rick as they explore the sites of London," said Bill Newlin, publisher, Avalon Travel. "Rick's narration adds depth to the reader's experience, while listeners can follow the routes more easily with the text."

The Kindle app has also been updated to support iPhone 4's Retina Display. If you decide to try out these new fangled talking, walking eBooks, let us know what you think.

[iTunes link, Amazon PR, Kindle Editions with Audio/Video]

iBooks on the iPad is the best ebook reading experience I've ever had (though to be fair I only have compared it to the Kindle 2nd Gen, Kindle on iPad, Kindle on iPhone, and various ebook readers on webOS and PalmOS).

Although initially I was a little concerned that reading on an LCD for extended periods of time would cause eye strain, reading for a couple of hours last night wasn't a problem at all. I will have to wait and see if even longer sessions cause problems, but my hunch is that won't be the case. You can adjust the brightness of the screen, the font size, and even the font type right from inside the app as you're reading to ensure that you're not squinting into some insanely bright screen.

You can search an entire book, look up words in the dictionary, jump to chapters, and so on. Bookmarking seems to only work on specific words, not on pages, but once you figure that out you're set to go. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to enter notes, only to highlight text in one of five colors. In other words, academics can add the inability to add margin notes to the other reasons to shy away from ebooks for now (the others including the fact that you can't trade or sell ebooks and, of course, DRM).

The iBooks Store is in-app and ties into your iTunes account, so you won't need to remember a different password to use it. Book selection seems to be slightly worse than what you can find in Amazon's Kindle store - but this early it's not completely fair to judge on selection. As with iTunes, there are plenty of top-charts like the NYT bestseller list, categories, and the ability to download samples of books to see if it's something you'd really like to read. One nice bit - iBooks uses the ePub standard, so it has the entire Gutenberg Project library

If you were thinking of buying a Kindle, don't.

Video and gallery after the break!

Kindle on iPad is, well, not as good as Kindle on a Kindle or iBooks. That's going to be the bottom line for a lot of people. It works in both portrait and landscape - though curiously I can't find a way to get a two-column book view in landscape. You can do most of the traditional ebook things: change the font size, adjust brightness, jump to any point in the book, have your place saved, etc. On Kindle you can also bookmark pages and add your own notes - all of which get synced up to Amazon's cloud so you can see them on other Kindle devices like your iPhone, a Kindle, etc.

Instead of an in-app store, Amazon sends you to Safari to browse and search for Kindle book - which I don't find especially annoying because the iPad's web browser is so good. Amazon has a slightly better selection of books than Apple does too, though in both cases I often find myself stymied when trying to find a particular book.

With both Kindle and iBooks my basic feeling is that they're good for light reading, but the difficulty of entering and exporting notes means that while I'll use them for entertainment, I won't use them for 'serious' work.

Hopefully Amazon will update this app to support two-column landscape mode soon.

Video and gallery after the break!

If you've got the iPhone or iPod touch version of Amazon's Kindle App [Free - iTunes link] check your updates because the new Kindle 2.0, universal binary version with iPad support is now live in the App Store!

Boasting 450,000 books (for US customers, international availability varies), and Whispersync convenience between Kindle device, iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad, Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with duplicating iBooks functionality.

It also says you can shop the Kindle store, though whether that means you can do it within the app, like iBookstore, or if you still have to go to the Amazon.com website first... we'll find out tomorrow.

If you're a Kindle Books lover, let us know how you enjoy reading them on your iPad!

Confirming that it won't just be Apple's iBookstore (and your own free ePubs) on the iPad, the New York Times today mentions that both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both working on book stores of their own. While both market their own hardware devices, the Kindle and the Nook respectively, the iPad is expected to throw a huge spotlight on eBooks in general, and they want to benefit:

The Kindle app for the iPad, which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week, allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers. It also presents two new ways for people to view their entire e-book collection, including one view where large images of book covers are set against a backdrop of a silhouetted figure reading under a tree. The sun’s position in that image varies with the time of day.

At the offices of Barnes & Noble’s digital unit in New York, 14 developers have occupied a windowless room since January, completely redesigning the company’s iPhone app for the iPad, according to Douglas Gottlieb, its vice president of digital products. The developers hunch over Macs around a big table, and printouts and notecards are taped up on the walls.

The new app will let users flip through books quickly with finger swipes and customize fonts in multiple colors and sizes. Mr. Gottlieb said the company was talking to publishers about adding multimedia to digital books.

Neither company received one of those secret, early-access iPad units for testing, so while they may be simulator-ready for the April 3 launch, they may not want to release until they've had a chance to run their apps on the real hardware. Comic reader app Panefly, for example, thinks a bad day 1 experience with an app that worked fine in the lab but poorly on the actual iPad could "kill the train before it leaves the station".

As to whether or not Apple will approve competing bookstores for the iPad App Store, TiPb's always felt that the best indicator was Steve Jobs announcing iBooks as a separate, downloadable app rather than a built-in like iTunes Store. While this may have also reflected iBooks US-only availability, and there's never any way to tell for sure what Apple will do until they do it, at the end of the day they want to move hardware and letting existing Kindle (and Nook) owners bring over their books is a great way to lower the barrier of iPad entry.

Right now, both the Kindle for iPhone [Free- iTunes link] and Barnes & Noble eReader for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] frequire a clunky web-based work around for purchasing books, however, and it would be nice to see that process actually integrated into the apps -- like iBooks and the iBookstore.

So, given the choice, what will you be buying and reading your eBooks with -- Amazon Kindle for iPad, Barnes & Noble eBook Reader for iPad, or Apple's iBooks?

[NYT via AppleInsider]

Windows Weekly co-host Paul Thurrott, who was initially nonplussed about Apple's iPad but is slightly warming to the device, has linked to a blog post from Bill Hill, former head of ClearType at Microsoft, who offers:

I predict it will be a huge success. It will cause the same kind of mayhem among TabletPC and eBook manufacturers that the iPod and iPhone did in their respective market categories.

Hill cites the great look, but says more importantly Apple understands the transition from "computing devices" to "consumer devices", while the Kindle was merely a "transitional device" while TabletPC were basically laptop PC's with tablet functionality grafted on.

The only doubts he has is in Apple's "clone" of his Microsoft ClearType, which he claims blurs at small sizes and on lower-pitch screens like the iPad's 132ppi. It might make sustained reading less enjoyable. All around he seems bullish, however, running Windows on a MacBook Pro, and now using an iPhone as well:

last week I dropped my Windows Mobile phone in the water. It was DOA when brought back to the surface. So now I need a new phone. No way am I buying a Windows Mobile replacement. I really grew to hate that phone. I've checked out the new Google phones, and I don't like them much either. No, I want a great customer experience - so I'll go with Apple.

I'm not an Apple Fanboy. But you have to give credit where it's due. From being browbeaten into a mere 2-3% PC market share several years ago, Apple has parlayed its expertise in "consumer computing" into astounding success. I expect the iPad to continue that success.

The pixel density is an interesting concern, especially from someone of Hill's background. The iPhone is 163ppi, the iPod nano 204ppi. Anyone think 132ppi will give them problems?

Every week a few of us from team TiPb -- bloggers, forum crew, and occasional friends alike -- bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they're fair game. Well, as 2009 winds to a close, we figured it's time for the staff to bring you not just picks of the week but -- PICKS OF THE YEAR!

So who's on deck for the very best iPhone apps of 2009? What are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad's Pick: N.O.V.A. -- Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance

This game demonstrates what is possible on the iPhone from a 3D shooter. This game has set the bar. [$6.99 - iTunes link]

Chris' Pick: Navigon MobileNavigator

Pick of the year, pick of the year...how do I choose a single app as my pick of the year? A game with which I have had lots of fun? A utility that I simply use all the time? A twitter app? After much debate and flip-flopping, I decided to go with Navigon as my pick of the year. Navigon (with the recent updates and improvements) is as close as I have seen to a turn by turn app done right. It has a plethora of features, has clear voice guided turn by turn directions, and really is one of the two or three utility apps that I use on a regular basis and gives the iPhone a feature that almost everyone was clamoring for from the beginning. [$59.99 until Jan. 11 - iTunes link]

Derrick's Pick: Simplytweet

Simplytweet is not only my Favorite app but its my app of the year also,. It's a great twitter app that has many features, including Multiple Accounts, Push Notifications, Photo Search, My favorite features are Landscape, retweet or quote tweets (via @theiphoneblog instead of RT @theiphoneblog), and Themes. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Dieter, SPE Editor-in-Chief's Pick:

Since the iPhone has become my secondary device, I'm finding that my go-to apps on it have changed a bit. The one I use the most: the Kindle app. I love that I have my books with me all the time now and that I can read it in bed without a light. Amazon really nailed the 'just works' aspect with the way they have sync set up - just a few seconds of data access is enough to get myself synced up to the last page I was reading on my actual Kindle. [Free - iTunes link]

Georgia's Pick: Skype

Skype gives you the ability to call anyone else who uses Skype, anywhere in the world, for free. You can also call landline or cell phones for a small fee, and send out IMs. Anything that combines "call anyone" and "free" definitely gets my vote for app of the year. (And if the 4th generation iPhone gets a front-facing camera, maybe we will even be able to have two-way video calls next year). [Free - iTunes link]

Jeremy's Pick: Twitbit

Twitbit has been my Twitter app of choice for some time now. Is it perfect? No, but then again the perfect app does not exist. What really makes Twitbit stand out as my favorite app of 2009 is the hard work that goes into it and the frequent updates to the app (and the updates are free unlike some other over rated Twitter app who's name I won't mention because it would hurt Rene's feelings). The developer, High Order Bit, constantly is striving to improve this app and it has evolved very well. I highly recommend you check it out. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Leanna's Pick: 1Password Pro

iPhone + Mac + 1Password for iPhone and Mac = best combination ever. Before my discovery of 1Password, I used the same 3 boring passwords for everything. Now I have a different randomly generated password for each login and 1Password makes this simple and hassle-free. When I first started using 1Password for iPhone, I was nervous that it was going to be a pain to have to launch 1Password to copy a password each time I needed it but the process is actually rather quick and worth it knowing that I have secure passwords. This combination is a serious must-have for iPhone and Mac users. [$7.99 - iTunes link]

Matt's Pick: Appigo Todo

Deciding which app I feel is my Pick of the Year was immensely hard. I immediately thought to myself "well it's my most used application..."but then I realized, that wouldn't be it. It had to be something that filled in the gap where the iPhone OS left out, revolutionize the way I worked on the iPhone. Was it easy to use? Could I customize it to fit my work? Finally I came upon the conclusion of - Appigo's Todo application. One of main things I missed coming from the Palm to the iPhone was a todo application. Appigo's Todo, goes above & beyond what the normal todo application should go. With several options to sync & push notification reminders, this is a killer app & an app worthy as a pick of the year [$9.99 - iTunes link]

Mickey, the Cell Phone Junkie's Pick: All-in-One WiFiRemote

WiFi Remote is one of the coolest apps I have. For $5, it allows me to control my Windows 7 media center that I have connected to my living room TV over my WiFi network without having to deal with a keyboard and mouse. It is like having a pocket control for the computer with me all the time. I can sit on the couch and either surf, or simply control the media I want to watch. The best part is that both my wife and I have it installed on our iPhones, so either of us can control it. [$4.99 - iTunes link]

Rene's Pick: Boxcar

And here's why -- iPhone 3.0 introduced a couple innovations to the iPhone app space, namely (and finally!) push-notifications and in-app purchases. Sure, augmented reality like Gunman is coming on strong, we're all looking forward to Unreal Engine 3 powered games, and one day we may see the fruits of app accessory access, but for today, for 2009, Boxcar is delivering. Not only is it an innovative example of push-notifcation and in-app purchase, it uses both fill gaps both in other apps (like the PNS-challenged Tweetie, Twitterrific, and yeah, Facebook), for Apple and Google who still haven't delivered push Gmail without taking up the lone ActiveSync slot on the iPhone (which GoogleSync requires), and in the latest version, for Growl and RSS notifications as well. Bottom line, Boxcar has leveraged iPhone 3.0 to make great apps and services better, and that makes it my pick of the year. [Free + in-app purchase - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

You're part of team TiPb too, so what's your pick of the year? In 2009, what was your most used, most eye-popping, most "this changes everything" iPhone app?

In reference to last week's news that Amazon pulled copies unlicensed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm off users' Kindles and iPhone Kindle apps, Jeff Bezos proves that sometimes the buck still stops at the top:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Nice.

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Join Dieter and Rene for Apple's Q3 iPhone results, and Chris, James, and Rene for App Store redux, more third gen iPod touch, and iTablet rumors. Listen in!

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News

• Apple Q3 2009 Conference Call - 5.2 Million iPhones Sold
• iPhone and iPod touch: Now with 45 Million Unit Install Base
• Apple: We Knew Traditional iPod Sales Would Decline, That’s Why We Developed iPhone
• Dear Apple: How About that Premium App Store?
• iPhone — 20% Profit Share of Mobile Industry?
• AIM Push Problems - Hacktivated iPhones to Blame?
• Third Generation iPod touch to get Camera… and Microphone?
• No Promo Codes for Apps Rated 17+ — Including Browsers?!
• Developer: Serious Doubts About App Store, Does Apple Care?
• Rumor: Subsidized Apple iTablet Coming to Verizon this Year?
• UPDATED: Amazon Remote Wipes Kindle Copies of 1984, Animal Farm — Redefines Irony
• Microsoft Store to Compete With Apple Store — By Not Selling Anything

Forums

Help and How-To

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

UPDATE: Engadget heard from Drew Herdener, Amazon.com's Director of Communications:

These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books. When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers. We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances.

Good on them for coming clean and changing the policy going forward. Though it would have been nice to have the candor and insight up-front.

ORIGINAL: According to Engadget, Amazon has remotely wiped copies of George Orwell's classics, 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles, refunding the purchase price of affected users.

We're not yet certain, but users of the iPhone Kindle app are probably similarly effected.

It remains unlikely that Amazon broke into any houses, repossessed any copies of same, and left change on the bureau.

By contrast, when Apple removed NetShare from the App Store, already purchased copies remained -- and remain to this day -- on the devices of whomever purchased them.

Takes a lot of wrong to make App Store policy seem right these days, so way to go, Amazon. You've either redefined ownership in the DRM age, or broken faith with any customers thinking of owning any more Kindle content...

Amazon has gone and updated their iPhone Kindle App [iTunes link] to version 1.1 and added in some nifty new features to boot:

• Read in portrait or landscape mode.
• Select alternate background and text colors to improve reading comfort in low light conditions.
• Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages.
• Pinch to zoom images in books.

Still free but also still requiring purchases through Amazon's web-based Kindle Store, it's never the less a good point release and overall improvement. And our resident Chadman was kind enough to provide some screenshots, so check out the gallery after the break!

Back in March, Apple's App Store was blessed with the free Amazon Kindle iPhone application. One of the biggest gripes that we had with it was the inability to purchase new books right from the app itself. While we still did not get that ability, Amazon has done the next best thing: last night they flipped the switch on an iPhone optimized Kindle store.

This freshly optimized store is nice to have but what, if anything, will change when iPhone OS 3.0 is released? If you remember, 3.0 has the ability to make in-app purchases. Will Amazon finally allow in-app purchases and give Apple a 30% cut off the top, or will Amazon stick with the current arrangement to avoid paying Apple for every book that is sold?

So what do you, our readers, think about this one? Either way, it should be interesting!

So. Funny. Maybe the Audio Book industry was right to be worried, but for the wrong reason. With the iPhone rumored to be getting voice control in 3.0, how long will it be before we get to see our signature device turn up as Sam Jackson in Pulp Fiction... or doing it's own into at Macworld 2007! The comedy potential is limitless, we tell you, limitless.

Once you've had your fill with Pod Vader, be sure to check out the Wrath of Kindle and iBlade Runner.

Every week a few of us from team TiPb, bloggers and forum crew alike, will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they're iPhone (or iPod touch) related, they're fair game.

So who's on deck this week and what are our picks? Find out after the break!

Chad's Pick: G-Map US East

I have been using G-Map US East for the iPhone now for a couple of months. Why wait for FULL GPS Navigation with Turn-by-Turn with Software 3.0 when you can have it now. All that is lacking is the audible cue to turn, but it has excellent visual cues. Easy to use and fast calculations make this one a winner! The developer says they will add Audible Turn-by-Turn with Software 3.0. Did I mention that Internet access is not required? That's right, all of the maps are on your hard drive with no subscription! [$24.99 - iTunes link]

James' Pick: Lose It!

Now that it's time for swimsuit season, I need to lose my winter layer that has accumulated over the past few months. Lose It! is a free application that allows you to set your weight loss goals with flexibility. The app counts your calorie intake (with a pretty robust food database), tracks your exercise and progress towards your goal. [Free - iTunes link]

Jeremy's Pick: UFC Undisputed 2009

[Ed: Since we couldn't pull Jeremy off his Xbox 360 in time to get a pick in, we tapped out and made his new affliction a rare exceptional pick ] 10 second knockout. On advanced difficultly I might add... I'm gonna be a beast in this game. [Free-ish Demo - official web site]

Leanna's Pick: F-MyLife

This little app lets you see the stories posted on http://www.fmylife.com/. There was a recent update to F-MyLife that has made the user experience even more enjoyable. This is a great time-filler app when you've got a few minutes to kill, or if you've just had an FML experience, make a post directly from F-MyLife. [ Free - iTunes link]

Matt's Pick: Geodefense

Current favorite for this week is GeoDefence. I was a bit hesitant in getting it as I had fieldrunners, however, this game is just as cool. It has more upgrades and towers also the main thing is that the path is created for you and you have to set up the towers along the path. [$3.99 - iTunes Link]

Rene's Pick: 1Password

1Password is an app I use so often I've almost forgotten it doesn't come standard on OS X -- Mac or iPhone. Until I re-install or restore, then I try to login to a secure website and -- Boom! -- where's my 1Password? I can't think of higher praise than that. It allows you to store gnarly, pseudo-random logins for websites, providing security, yet use them with the minimum of hassle possible, providing convenience to boot. And it syncs between multiple Macs and the iPhone. Swoon [Free - iTunes link]

Special Guest Pick from Editor-in-Chief Dieter Bohn: Kindle

What's great about it: used to be that if you needed information instantly, you hit up Google to see what the internet says. That's great and I use it every day (heck, every hour), but while that's great for breadth of information, it's not always great for depth. Now that I have the Kindle app on my iPhone, I can 'queue up' deeper research quickly and easily. [FREE - iTunes link]

Your Pick?

Yeah, you're part of team TiPb too, so what's your pick of the week? What app was your absolute fav last week? Let us -- and everyone -- know in the comments!

Our best frenemy forever, CrackBerry.com's Kevin sent us word that Canadians currently excluded from all the Amazon Kindle E-Book app goodness may just have an alternative. Seems Chapters/Indigo (think Barnes and Nobles with maple syrup, eh?) is getting into the game, and onto the devices, with a new service called Shortcovers.

While Kevin was sickened by the prominence of the iPhone in the above video, we thought it was fantastic. (And if the fugly look of the BlackBerry app compared to the hot sexay of the iPhone version is any indication of how this whole BlackBerry App World vs. iPhone App Store sitch will work out for RIM...)

Any of our readers to the north going to check it out?

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Last night's iPhone Live! was pretty darn good -- so good, in fact, that it created a cross-border, pan-dimensional bug that kept us from recording the first 20 minutes properly. We recapped it a bit, but those who it hit it up live got a special treat. Rest assured, though, we have more than enough to talk about with the new Kindle iPhone App, what it means for Apple, Amazon, and when it might go international - so if you missed iPhone Live!, go ahead and check out this here podcast.

Background Reading

• Review: Belkin TuneCast Auto with ClearScan for iPhone 3G
• Amazon Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch Now in the iTunes App Store
• Could an Apple iTablet be a Kindle e-Book and e-Comic Killer?
• Speculation Alert: Does This Mean March 24 Will be iPhone 3.0 Beta? iTablet? What?!

• Attack of the iClones: It’s a Small BlackBerry App World After All!

• Bonus Dieter Recommended Reading: The once and future e-book: on reading in the digital age by John Siracusa, Ars Technica

Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat, or sent in questions!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Jennifer, from our sibling site PreCentral.net is a recent Kindle 2 adopter and so eager is she to get her geek on the Pre and it's potential Kindle App, she decided to take the iPhone version for a test drive. What were her thoughts? Looks great! More:

I was just starting Chapter 11 in my eBook "Terminal Freeze" on the Kindle, but when the iPhone version of the book opened, it was on a different page. I noticed that I had the wireless on my Kindle 2 turned off, so I turned it on. As soon as I did that and rebooted my iPhone, a message popped up asking if I wanted to sync to the furthest page read, and of course I clicked "Yes". And sure enough, the page went to the beginning of Chapter 11. So it looks like the Whispersync works pretty good.

Head on over to read the rest of her hands on, and maybe encourage her to keep that iPhone groove going...

Yes, folks, I was one of the suckers eager buyers of the 2nd edition of the Kindle. My pain is your pleasure, though, as you can get some early screenshots of the app already loaded up with books via Whispersync.

As you may have just read in our previous post, Amazon has just released Kindle for iPhone for free in the App Store (iTunes link), you cannot buy Kindle books directly from the app. Instead you can purchase inside Mobile Safari, from your desktop, or from a Kindle

The text is nice and readable (and you can resize as well). The app keeps a "page metaphor," meaning that instead of being able to scroll up and down, you swipe left and right to switch pages. A single tap on the screen bring up a menu to give you back, bookmark, text-size, and a sync button to sync your last page read with a Kindle.

The Whispersync tech works exactly as advertised -- books purchased show up as "Archived" and you can then download them directly to your iPhone.

Head on in after the break for your screenshots!

Amazon's Kindle App for iPhone and iPod touch is now live in the App Store. It allows access to hundreds of thousands of Amazon Kindle format e-books (we assume the whole 200K plus library).

The Amazon Kindle for iPhone app is FREE (iTunes Link), but it looks like books need to be purchased from Amazon directly via PC or Mac and transferred over, or from the iPhone via Mobile Safari. Most e-books should run $9.99. Like with the Kindle device itself, you can sample first chapters for free, adjust text size and bookmark. You can't annotate but you can view Kindle annotations.

Whispersync is also enabled so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch to the iPhone, and basically go back and forth without losing your place. Books you've already purchased for the Kindle, of course, can be placed on the iPhone or iPod touch as well.

Note: Per Dieter, this doesn't seem to be showing up on the iPhone App Store app yet, and -- of course -- it's not available (yet?) in the Canadian App Store (or any international App Store?)

Any Kindle users out there ready to test this out and let us know how it's working?

Yeah, let the speculation continue! No sooner did we blog about Apple's rumored March 24th Special Event being an iPhone 3.0 or even iTablet into, then we came across this wonderful article up at Newsarama.com featuring uber-Apple tech journo, Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times. Most tantalizingly:

"There's something I keep hearing, and I don't think I'd rank it as high as a rumor, but it's an interesting story that I keep hearing, that for awhile, trucks loaded with books would arrive at a loading dock on the Apple campus, and offload big, big, big, big, huge load of books, and then the trucks would leave empty. And Apple does not have a 100,000-book employee library there on the Apple campus," Ihnatko said. "So one is prone to believe that they're doing something with these books, such as turning them into text for some purpose we can only guess at. There's been a long-standing rumor that Apple has been silently preparing to open a bookstore on the iTunes store, and they want to make sure that they have a very large stock of electronic titles when they do open.

The entire article is definitely worth a read, and given the way print media, with associated delivery and distribution costs is going, an Apple-fronted e-Book reader would be good news. An Apple and iTunes Store front e-Comic Book reader could save Marvel and DC from their own current myopia as well.

Of course, even the mighty Amazon has failed to show there's a mainstream market for the Kindle yet (we don't believe they've even hit the magic 1 million sold mark yet, have they?) and Apple has never been one to lead markets, only consumer-ize them, so we'll see...

Meantime, who wants one?

The techeratti love the Kindle -- so what if it's only available in the US, is selling half-as well as the Zune, Apple targeted "reading" in a recent commercial, and Google just optimized their Books service for the iPhone? It's not like Amazon is making an iPhone reader too, is it?

Whoops! D - All Things Digital says Amazon may just be doing exactly that:

“We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones. We are working on that now,” an Amazon spokesman told the New York Times, while offering zero other details. [...] I’ve asked for more clarification, but I’m not hopeful–it’s difficult to get Amazon to acknowledge that the sun sets in the West. [UPDATE: Via email, an Amazon spokesman allows that "we are excited" but nothing else.] The big question is whether Amazon intends to sell titles that can be read on Apple’s (AAPL) handsets.

Makes sense. Amazon is essentially a software and services company, books for your shelves, movies for your player, even food for your fridge. They're not a consumer electronics manufacturer like Apple. Kindle-style E-Books would be a much better revenue generator for them if they -- like audio books -- could play on a variety of platforms. (We don't see Audible making their own proprietary MP3 player, do we?)

I'd love to see the Kindle's market place opened up to the iPhone. How about you? Want the latest best sellers, this term's text books, and the WSJ all beamed directly to your iPhone?

(Thanks to The Reptile for sending this in!)

It seems that e-book readers are going to be technology's next big thing. With the Kindle being named Oprah’s favorite gadget and other e-book reading devices battling for pole position, the e-book reader is populating daily culture. But who wants to pay that much money for a dedicated reading device that is admittedly limited and still has no true standard format?

Insert iPhone. We all know that the iPhone does a great job in converging multiple devices, why not add being an e-book reader to its capabilities? Obviously we won’t have any e-ink technology in the iPhone but the e-book readers in the iPhone, Classics and Stanza, offer ease of use and a great free selection—plus you don’t have to plop down an extra 400 dollars to read a book.

See what we think of Classics and Stanza in our App vs App!

Design

Classics is wonderfully designed. Upon starting the app, a virtual bookcase filled with the covers of popular books gives you your reading options. The interactive bookshelf definitely makes for a virtually pleasing layout—it gives a experience similar to grabbing a book from your shelf, but in this case, tapping will suffice. You can also rearrange the books in any order, though the obvious flaw is when more books become available this design layout may not be the most effective to navigate.

What’s great about Classics is that the look of the pages seems carefully designed and well implemented. The pages look like pages of a book, complete with a clothlike texture and instant readability. Another great touch is the flipping of the pages, swipe from right to left to move pages in the most accurate rendition we’ve seen in an e-book reader.

Stanza makes up for what it lacks in groundbreaking design by offering seemingly limitless customization. If you want the color of the words a certain hue of grey or the background completely black, you have the option to do so. This amount of customization allows you to create layouts that better suit your eyes.

Stanza's library page is akin to the iPhone’s setting page—effective and efficient but hardly awe inspiring. It gives you a basic list to select from and it’ll narrow your selection from there. Overall, it works but it definitely feels like you have to learn how to use the controls before you read, rather than just get to reading right away.

Usability

Classics notable feature is its ability to realistically flip through pages. Because there is no customization options whatsoever in Classics, Classics needed to nail this feature to warrant any type of consideration. Luckily, they absolutely nailed it. The animation and physics of turning the page are extremely accurate and if you’re sliding the finger to turn but decide not to, it follows your movement and the page falls back in place. You really have to give it a try, it’s the most accurate representation of page turning that I’ve ever seen.

Also, I found that the overall page design of Classics was fairly easy on the eyes. It uses a tan/brown mix of colors to create a more paper-esque texture to the page. It almost looks cloth like. Overall, Classics did a wonderful job in presenting themselves and I enjoyed reading from the application.

But by no means is Classics perfect. It doesn’t have a great selection, offering only a handful of “classic” novels and it offers no customization whatsoever. There is no ability to customize page layout, to change fonts, no ability to add books—you really have to run with what the developers designed for you. You can’t even change the font size, so you’re stuck turning pages at a pretty fast rate. So though Classics looks great, it is definitely limited.

Stanza on the other hand, is completely customizable. You can add books, newspapers, magazines, and thousands of books from different publishers. The sheer number of books is simply staggering, you can always find something to read.

Also, you can customize the page layout to fit your eyes’ preference. The text color, background color, link color, font, font size, alignment, line spacing, margin width, images, and controls—it can really be tweaked to whatever you prefer. Want to read with a black background and white text? By all means! Black Helvetica text on a red background with justified alignment? Sure!

But in the end, I still preferred the overall look of Classics standard page layout over Stanza’s customizable options. No matter what I did, and I tried to emulate Classics, it just wasn’t as easy on the eyes. Also, turning the page is nowhere near as pretty. It only slides out in Stanza.

But the unarguable advantage of Stanza is its ability to add books. That makes it a much more powerful reader and definitely lengthens the life span of the application. You'll never be able to read everything that the folks at Stanza offers because it really has a library worth of literature! 

Final Thoughts

So I guess what it really boils down to is: do you want an e-book reader that looks good with a limited amount of books or a fully customizable reader with limitless options of reading material?

In conclusion, I think having a greater selection wins out. The fact that Stanza can add a variety of books, newspapers, and magazines to your library makes it the winner in this week’s App vs App. The complete customization of the page layout also deserves kudos because it lets the reader decide what he or she wants to see.

It’s hard to knock Classics though. As a reading application, it deserves stellar marks for nailing the physics of turning the page and offering such a great, easy on the eyes, page design. Even though customization is huge in e-book readers, the stock look of Classics is still by far the best look in comparison with the two.

But Classics falls short by not offering a wider reading selection. It simply can’t seriously compete as an e-book reader when you can only read the same “classic” books over again. I love this application and think the developers did a fantastic job, but the lack of selection makes it hard for me to give my full recommendation. I definitely think it still merits consideration as the most exciting reader app for the iPhone. But as it stands now, Stanza has still got it beat.

Classics Rating

Stanza Rating