Amazon's Kindle, and app now available for iPhone

I don't know how many of you pay attention to tech news, but lately there's been a lot of focus on the new Kindle 2, Amazon's ebook reader. The first Kindle was pretty impressive, and the new version is even better. With all the great features, and all the recent press coverage, it's hard not to get swept up in the hype and want one. Still, eventually reality sets in. The reader costs $359, just for the hardware. Then you have to buy books, which run about $10 each. Now, compared to going out and buying new release hardcover books, that's a great price, but I tend to wait for books to come out in paperback. Lately, I've not even been buying those, but checking books out from the library instead. So, check books out for free in the old fashioned ink and paper format, or pay $10 each for the digital format? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I might even consider buying some kindle books once in a while, if it weren't for the initial $359 hardware cost. That's where today's news comes in. Amazon has released a Kindle application for the iPhone. Download the app to your phone, and you can buy and read kindle books without paying for the hardware, and without having to carry around yet another device. I don't own an iPhone at this point, but maybe someday I will. Or, perhaps Amazon will release an app for Windows Mobile phones soon. Until then, the Kindle 2 will just be another product that the UMF (Unseen Mystical Force) unsuccessfully tries to convince me to buy.

Update: Cnet has an article up comparing the iPhone app with the real kindle2.