A Kindle App for iPad? Huh?

That was big news for Blackberry users indeed when Amazon launched its Kindle for Blackberry App. But did you notice the sentence that mentions a Kindle app for iPad in the press release? What?

Here is the second sentence from the opening paragraph of the press release:

“Amazon’s Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a customer’s bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, PC, BlackBerry and soon, Mac and iPad, so customers always have their reading material with them and never lose their place”.

This press release is a huge reminder for the gadget owner community: Amazon and Apple are business partners despite the fact that they are huge competitors, and they know that the ereader market has the potential to be or already is a multi-billion dollar business. In order to satisfy the consumers’ wants and needs, they have to provide products that sync together.

The fact is the Kindle for iPhone App and Amazon’s Stanza app are top reading Apps in the Apple Store for the iPhone and iPod, and really there is no reason to doubt that the iPad will share this success. The Kindle Store holds on to 90% of ebook sales. These two powerhouses combined are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Here is a prediction:

Most iPad owners won’t spend much time reading books on their iPad. They will read magazines, newspapers and maybe even comic books, but as for books, they won’t spend the time. Why? Because the iPad is a multi-tasking gadget that targets a different market completely. iPad owners will be too busy doing other things on their iPad. With this being mentioned, if they aren’t reading books, then they aren’t buying books. This prediction leads to a conclusion: The iBookstore won’t sell many books.

So, Amazon will still have the 80%-90% of ebook sales, and the iPad won’t challenge it, despite the huge iPad sales to come. Because iPad owners will do little book reading on the device, they may find it easier to download the Kindle iPad App and read Kindle books. On the other side, however, Amazon may see a decline in newspaper and magazine sales, but are they really that big anyway?

Ah! Speculation is fun! But, the fact is, Amazon and Apple are in business to make money, and fulfill their company visions by offering the consumer the latest and greatest innovations as competitors and partners, through gadgets like Apple’s iPad and the Amazon Kindle.