Amazon has just updated the content of its
iBooks-rivalling Kindle app for
iPhone and
iPad. The Kindle app now has the ability to allow a user to experience eBooks enhanced with embedded
video and
audio. This new injection of multimedia aims to make reading more fun and interactive. It follows on the heels of many narrated picture books released for iPad in the App Store.
Kindle Editions eBooks currently exist in small numbers, with some of the first of these special editions being
Rick Steves' London by Rick Steves and
Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway. Amazon is currently offering around a dozen of these enhanced titles in total.
Cook books, tour guides, or children's picture books would all work great in a Kindle Edition.
Pride and Prejudice or
War and Peace wouldn't and couldn't really be livened up with a bit of video, or with a narrator plowing through volume after volume. In the latter case, your Kindle Edition would just become a glorified audiobook.
Interestingly, Kindle Editions will not work on Amazon's own Kindle device, as it cannot play video. This update shows Amazon has accepted the fact that the Kindle device has its limitations. The Kindle device cannot match the iPad in multimedia functionality, but Amazon is going to take advantage of the medium through their updated app and new content.
Amazon is presenting themselves as an eBooks retailer attempting to expand their market to Apple's iDevices. This new content update marks their expansion as a targeted one, something directed solely towards Apple's customer base. It does look like Amazon cares more about selling eBooks than about selling Kindles.
You can check out Amazon's press release regarding Kindle Editions
here, and if you jump onto
Amazon's site you can browse through the enhanced Kindle Editions books that are already available.
Enjoy, and let us know what you think of Kindle Editions in the comments box below.
