IPod Touch, iPhone join Kindle's book club

— -- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently said he wanted to open up Kindle electronic books to other devices. Today, Amazon delivers on that with "Kindle for iPhone and iPod Touch," a free application at Apple's App Store.

Owners of the iPhone and Touch will have wireless access to the same 240,000-plus e-books previously only available on Amazon's own Kindle and Kindle 2 electronic readers. New releases typically cost $9.99.

Readers must still buy those books through the Kindle Store — either on a Kindle device, or through a Web browser on a computer or one of the Apple devices. Books you've purchased are wirelessly transferred to the iPhone or Touch via Amazon's servers. You cannot shop for Kindle books in Apple's App Store.

Kindle subscriptions to newspapers, magazines or blogs can't be transferred, though as a practical matter much of that material is available anyway on the iPhone via the Web.

There are several differences reading on the Kindle and the iPhone. On the iPhone you tap the multitouch display to change pages. On Kindle you press physical buttons.

Of course, the screens on Amazon's own devices are much larger than the screen on the iPhone or iPod Touch. And Kindle battery life is measured in days or weeks; on the iPhone it is measured in hours.

Amazon's iPhone app lacks the dictionary and read-aloud feature of a Kindle 2. You cannot insert annotations on the iPhone either, though you can read notes and highlights you entered on a Kindle.

Related Stories

4 big takeaways from Day 10 of Trump trial

• May 2, 5:50 PM

'Life-threatening' flood conditions in Houston

• May 3, 3:41 PM

Man kills wife, 3 kids in mass shooting: Police

• Apr 23, 12:35 PM

Both Kindles and the Apple handsets let you change the size of the text. Both let you leave bookmarks. Moreover, readers can take advantage of Amazon's Whispersync technology. So you could start a book on a Kindle and not lose your place when resuming on the iPhone or Touch.

Similarly, you could begin a book on the iPhone and pick up where you left off on a Kindle.

IPhone owners are already able to read electronic books through apps such as Stanza and Classics. What Amazon brings, of course, is a lot more fresh content.