Amazon Opens Up Kindle and Kindle DX to Developers
The online retail giant is answering the threat of the imminent introduction of Apple iPad. Amazon has to protect its Kindle supremacy in the ebook reader category. This is because Apple Tablet PC (iPad) is also going to function as an e-book reader not only for books but also for news and magazines, and the Kindle has to expand to keep up with its closest competition as of the moment.
The 6-Inch Kindle (Sample Photo)
The Kindle had tremendous sales figure for 2009 and has been confirmed as the most-gifted item from Amazon last holiday season! No exact figures have been disclosed, but Amazon has admitted the Kindle e-reader has outsold all others toys, gadgets and gizmos. The company also said they sold much more electronic versions of books compared to the physical paper versions during last year’s yuletide holiday. Experts said it is because buyers needed lots of e-books to fill up the thousands of new Kindle units. For developers, the Kindle Simulator will be very helpful. This tool will help developers build and test their content by simulating the 6-inch Kindle and 9.7-inch Kindle DX device on different platforms – Mac, PC, and Linux desktops.
Now Jeff Bezos and company are responding to Apple’s entry to its territory by opening up the Kindle to outside developers. The Kindle is no longer going to be a simple e-book reading gadget. It will be running full-blow apps that make it more like a tablet pc device. The Kindle has the processing power and the storage capacity to run complex programs. Its Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities makes it more attractive for software developers.
The Kindle Developers Kit will be available this month of February. Third-party developers will soon be able to access and utilize the Kindle’s programming architecture to build applications. If you are interested to try the beta testing of it, please go to http://www.amazon.com/kdk/. Kindle owners can soon expect a slew of multimedia applications for this year. I just hope Amazon comes up with a color version of the Kindle. It’s not fun to watch HD videos in black & white! That’s the downside of Kindle ebook readers.
Electronic Arts have already committed itself to try to integrate games to the Kindle Platform.
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