Amazon today announced that they will support Apple’s iPad and other tablet devices for their Kindle library. The app will have access to their library of over 450,000 Kindle ebooks. In addition, the Kindle app would support their Whispersync technology which syncs bookmarks, the last read page, notes, and highlights across Kindle devices, computers (PC/Mac), iPhones, and Blackberrys.
Other touted features include customizable colors and fonts, adjustable screen brightness within the app, page turn animations, and a basic reading mode without any animations.
Barnes and Noble similarly announced that they will submit an eReader app specifically for the iPad to take advantage of their own digital catalog. Their app is expected to be released around the time of the iPad launch in April and will support over one million eBooks, magazines, and newspapers from their online eBookstore. The New York Times described that the app would also feature customizable colors and fonts and page flip animations.
As it does through their other supported platforms, existing content downloaded previously through a nook device would sync to the app. Barnes and Noble currently provides free eReader apps for Windows, Mac, Blackberry, and iPhone/iPod Touch.
Apple"s own iBooks app is targeted to launch along with the iPad on April 3. Their online library, called the iBookstore, is set to directly compete against Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as the iBooks app will not be included by default on the device and will require a download from the App Store. One tidbit that should interest users of the popular Project Gutenberg and other free ebook services is that the iBooks app will support and sync free ePub content through iTunes.
Questions of when the iBookstore will hit international customers and when iPhone users will get a specific iBooks app of their own still remain unanswered.