Hours after my post about the Iceberg Reader app for the iPhone, I heard a news report on ABC that Amazon is offering a free Kindle application for the iPhone and iTouch.
The New York Times has the article today:
The move comes a week after Amazon started shipping the updated version of its Kindle reading device. It signals that the company may be more interested in becoming the pre-eminent retailer of e-books than in being the top manufacturer of reading devices . . .The article has a consultant indicating that Amazon is smarter than everyone thought.
With the announcement, Amazon appears to be hedging its bets.
Analysts had also thought Amazon was closely following the template Apple had created with the iPod and trying to dominate the market with a ubiquitous, must-have consumer electronics device. Now it appears Amazon is more interested in selling as many e-books as possible on its site, and collecting the royalties, while strengthening its ties with customers, many of whom will buy other products from Amazon if they start buying e-books.
Not only smarter; more ambitious.
Go here to read the New York Times article.
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