Amazon upgrades Kindle for Apple devices

Amazon, which already offers free Kindle apps to enable people to read its e-books on other devices, has now added a video feature so Kindle books can be read on the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The new version of the app also plays video and audio clips embedded in e-books. Users can download the Kindle app for free from the Apple App Store. Amazon has also optimized the iPhone Kindle app for iPhone 4’s higher-resolution “retina display” screen. Amazon also now offers Kindle for Android, via a free app from the Android Market.

The first books to take advantage of the new technology are “Rick Steves’ London,” by Rick Steves, and “Together We Cannot Fail,” by Terry Golway. An Amazon spokesperson said that there are already some Kindle editions with video clips in the store, and Amazon looks forward to “seeing what authors and publishers create using the new functionality.”