Amazon introduces Kindle app for Windows 8

With all eyes trained on the Microsoft launch event, Amazon took the fine opportunity of announcing a new Kindle app tailored for Windows 8. Users across the globe can now download this free app and browse Amazon’s selection of over 1.5 million books (including over 200,000 exclusive titles) at competitive prices. Kindle books are “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” and users can read Kindle books on any Kindle e-reader or the Kindle Fire, as well as on other devices such as the iPad, the iPod touch, the iPhone, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Android phones and tablets, in web browsers with Kindle Cloud Reader, and now on Windows 8 devices. Potential users can learn more about Kindle for Windows 8 here and can download the free app from the Windows Store.  “The Kindle ecosystem offers customers massive selection and the lowest prices, along with hundreds of thousands of books that are only available in the Kindle Store. We’re excited to make the best content selection, along with all of the benefits of the Kindle ecosystem, available on Windows 8,” said Dorothy Nicholls, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “We’re thrilled that leading manufacturers have selected the Kindle ecosystem for pre-load on their new Windows 8 devices.” Already available for the new Windows 8 OS “We’re excited that Amazon created a Kindle app designed especially for Windows 8,” said John Richards, senior director of Windows App Marketing for Microsoft Corp. “Kindle’s great content ecosystem and immersive experience on Windows 8 make it a great choice for our customers around the world.”  The new Kindle app offers Whispersync technology, which automatically syncs a user’s last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across all of her Kindles and Kindle apps. The app is available worldwide in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Kindle for Windows 8 has instant access to over 1.5 million books at the best prices, including over 200,000 exclusive titles. Over 650,000 books are priced at $4.99 (approximately Rs 270) or less and over 1.2 million are $9.99 (approximately Rs 550) or less.  The new features of Windows 8 enables Kindle app users to pin their books to the Start screen for instant access to their favourite titles and search their library and Kindle store with the Search charm. Users can also use the Share charm to easily share favourite passages and recommended books to friends and other apps without leaving the Kindle experience.  Users can learn more about “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” Kindle apps here.  At the Microsoft event, the tech giant officially announced the availability of the Windows 8 OS. Commenting at the announcement, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft said that Microsoft has re-imagined Windows, and that the result is a stunning line-up of new PCs. He went on to add that Windows 8 brings together the best of the PC and the tablet.