Verizon Preloads Amazon Kindle On Android Phones

Motorola Droid X

Amazon's Kindle e-reader is now available pre-loaded on Google Android devices at Verizon Wireless, the two companies said on Wednesday.

The app, which provides access to over 700,000 books in the Kindle Store, is on Verizon's recently released Samsung Fascinate, which has a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display, as well as the Motorola Droid 2, with a 3.7-inch touch screen, and the Droid X, which has a 4.3-inch multi-touch display. The carrier said the app will also be made available to other future devices. Customers can use Kindle for Android to browse, download, and read books on an Android phone.

Kindle for Android features include the ability to sync a bookmark across devices with Amazon's Whispersynch technology, so readers can pick up where they leave off in a book, and automatic online backup of books purchased from the Kindle Store with its "Kindle Worry-Free Archive," so they can be downloaded again if necessary.

The recently updated Kindle for Android app also lets users conduct complete searches of Kindle titles via voice or text, use Wikipedia and Dictionary.com to look up words and phrases, add notes to books and read book summaries and reviews on the social networking site Shelfari. Over 575,000 of the books in the Kindle Store are available for $9.99 or less, including 80 New York Times bestsellers, Amazon said.

"Our smartphones come with great screens that make buying and reading books simple and easy, and Amazon's commitment to reading and offering a seamless customer experience is directly in line with what our customers want," said Jennifer Byrne, executive director of business development and partnerships for Verizon Wireless, in a statement.

Earlier this week, Amazon announced a new offering, Kindle Singles, to give writers the ability to publish works that may be longer than a typical magazine article but not long enough for a novel.

Other e-reader apps that have launched for Android smartphones include Kobo, Nook, eReader, iReader, Aldiko, and Laputa.

Verizon customers can also find the app in the Android Market by searching on "Kindle."