Amazon nuzzles Win 7 with PC Kindleware

Touch my ebooks

Amazon has unveiled Kindle software for Windows, showing off the new ebook reader app at Microsoft's Windows 7 launch this morning in New York City.

The uber etailer is already offering an iPhone app that replicates the software built into its Kindle ereader device, and now, you can access your Kindle account from a PC as well.

You don't need a physical Kindle to run a Kindle account, where you can purchase etitles from Amazon's online store. But if you do own that sliver of white plastic, Amazon will automatically synchronize your Kindle with its iPhone and Windows apps via the device's built-in cellular wireless connection. If you've read to a particular page on your handheld, for instance, that page will appear when you launch your Kindle for PC software.

Kindle for PC runs on Windows XP and Window Vista, but it's specifically coded for Windows 7. Among others things, it can tap into the touchscreen technology built into the new OS.

You can't actually download the free software at the moment, but Amazon promises it will be available next month.

Amazon's announcement comes just days after the introduction of Barnes & Noble's Kindle-battling Nook reader. The Nook also arrives next month, and Barnes & Noble is already offering Windows software that dovetails with its own online ebook store.

Barnes & Noble also offers software for the iPhone, the Mac, and certain BlackBerry, and Motorola phones. Amazon has yet to deliver Kindleware for the Mac or the BlackBerry. But who cares about Motorola.

Amazon sells books in the DRM-ified .AZW format and the unprotected mobipocket format on which AZW is based. The large-format Kindle DX also reads PDF files natively, but other incarnations of the device do not.

You can sign up to receive an email when the Kindle for PC app is ready here. ®