As expected, Amazon wasted no time in getting its content on the iPad. Amazon.com on Friday announced that its Kindle App for iPad is available in the App Store. The app allows iPad users access to more than 450,000 books from the Kindle Store.
The new app from Amazon is significant in that it will be in direct competition with Apple’s iBook Store, which is part of Apple’s iTunes store and focuses primarily on eBooks. In the months leading up to the launch of the iPad, much of the discourse surrounding the new device was in discussing its possible challenge to Amazon’s Kindle eReader.
The Kindle App for the iPad features automatic sync with Kindle and Kindle compatible devices, customizable appearance and page turn animation. Amazon is billing the new app as a complement to its own Kindle device.
“Kindle for iPad is the perfect companion for the millions of customers who already own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a way for customers around the world to download and enjoy books even if they don’t yet have a Kindle,” said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle, in a statement.
The eBook market is just one segment of the publishing industry that the iPad has promised to rattle. On Friday, The New York Times raised the price of its digital edition by 33 percent, from $14.99 to $19.99. The iPad has been called a savior for the print publishing industry, as it allows full-color digital editions of popular subscription-based magazines and newspapers.
