Amazon has announced plans to launch Kindle for Android, expanding on its mobile presence and increasing the number of ways in which you can access your Amazon books. The app will work on Android OS 1.6 or better, and require an SD card.
The move isn’t surprising, given Amazon’s early support of the Android platform. Even before the breakthrough Motorola Droid helped to push Android to the forefront of mobile conversation, Amazon’s store came pre-loaded on many devices, with a later mp3 store helping Google better compete against Apple’s iPhone with iTunes Store access.
Perhaps the more surprising aspect of Amazon’s Kindle release for Android is the fact that it took so long. While Amazon has found several ways to avert Apple’s top-down approach to controlling its devices and their content, it was still necessary for Amazon to appeal to iPhone users. Hence, the Amazon Kindle app for iPhone, amongst other initiatives to own an access point on the iPhone.
And while we’ll see a similar tit-for-tat proceed between Amazon and Apple over the iPad, we’re also seeing Amazon branch further away from this device-specific approach to the Kindle. Amazon on Android devices could take the company in an entirely different direction than it would have been able to go, had it stuck with just an iPhone app.
Google’s Android platform is moving beyond mobile devices to television set top boxes, among other things. Creating more access points for personal electronic devices and home entertainment means more opportunity for Amazon to sell physical and digital products. This is only the begining for Amazon’s capacity to reach consumers and provide the means by which others can reach consumers as well.
Amazon already has a pretty amazing platform of its own, and building out the access points to the platform means that more sellers and authors will be able to interact with each other. This is the real way in which Amazon can better take advantage of its current position, emphasizing the importance of its focus on its mobile presence.
