Kindle App for the Tablet PC - Analyst Blog

As promised, Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Kindle app for the tablet PC became available just before the launch of Apple Inc’s (AAPL) iPad. So users could download the app just as easily as Apple’s own e-book software called iBooks. This follows the launch of the Kindle app for Macs a few days ago.
 
The Kindle app for the tablet is an app with a difference. It takes care of aesthetics, such as background color and brightness and combines this with practical requirements, such as note-making, highlighting, and viewing notes and highlights created on other Kindle software.

The Whispersync technology also records the last page read, so a person reading on a Kindle or iPhone could easily access this page when switching to a PC or tablet. It naturally allows purchases from Amazon’s bookstore, which includes a choice of 450,000 titles.

Therefore, Amazon’s strategy appears to be clear—sell as many Kindles as you can and offer Kindle apps where you cannot. Either way, the idea is to sell as many e-books as possible.
 
Apple’s iBooks is married to the iPad, so it is not possible to read across platforms. Also, books can only be downloaded from the iTunes store. Although the number of titles is currently much less than Amazon’s, Apple is offering publishers better margins than Amazon. Therefore, five of the largest publishers have already agreed to work with the company and others are likely to follow.
 
Barnes & Noble (BKS), the other major bookseller, is also developing an app that the company intends to customize for the iPad. The app is expected to offer a much more comprehensive line-up, offering all products available at the BKS store. Barnes & Noble’s Nook is similar to the Kindle in terms of reading across platforms.
 
Research firm in-Stat expects e-reader sales to grow to six million units in 2010 (nearly double the number sold in 2009) and 30 million units by 2013. Forrester expects Apple to sell 3 million iPads this year, so if its projections hold good, then the Kindle still has a chance of grabbing its share of half the market.
 

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