Kindle on Windows Mobile soon? Plus other apps? Job ads give clue.
Amazon has been looking for engineers familiar with mobile-related software, including Windows Mobile.
Will a Kindle app will soon appear for for this OS and others, including Android?
No surprise if so, given Jeff Bezos’s recent statements and the existing K-app for the iPhone.
But a BusinessWeek piece—with mention of ads for engineers and all that—strengthens the case.
If nothing else, consider the antitrust angle I’ve brought up again and again.
BusinessWeek, in fact, quotes analyst Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford Bernstein as saying: “"They can’t keep the Kindle a closed system, because it will attract the attention of regulators.”
Meanwhile, in terms of specifics, here’s what BusinessWeek says about the recruitment ads:
“In the past several months the online retailer has been expanding its team of mobile engineers. It’s also acquiring companies whose products and knowhow could help Amazon turn out new software for cell phones. The goals may be to sell new programs that can run on Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, make Amazon’s digital titles available for more devices, and ring up revenue from sales of mobile applications, say several software executives and analysts.”
Well, we already know about the Stanza purchase.
(Via wmpoweruser.com.)
June 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am
This is actually funny to hear, considering how fast Windows Mobile is being phased out in favor of other OSs: The Win-based PDA line is almost dead; UMPCs are running full versions of Windows, Linux or other proprietary OSs; and of course, the iPhone and iTouch use a different OS.
So, in their concern about not looking like monopolies, they seek to make connections with dead systems, just to be able to say they did it. Maybe next week, we’ll get a Kindle version for COBOL…
October 24th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Not so “funny” when you consider that global manufacturers like HTC and LG are bringing out whole new lines of Winmo 6.5 phones
LG alone is slated to release 50 new Winmo models over the next year and HTC has already brought a Diamond 2 and HD Pro type phone to ATT with 6.5 and their new HD2 with a 1GHz snapdragon processor and 4.3″ multitouch screen debuts in Europe later this month
Add Samsung’s slick new organic LED-based Omnia II Winmo 6.5 phone with an 800 Mhz ARM processor and and Toshiba’s new TG01 also with a 1GHz snapdragon and there’s a pretty significant bevy of slick high tech Win-based phones to upgrade and extend the existing 30+ million Win-based phones
As a result, a new industry report projects Windows based phones to more than double over the next few years and jumping back to #2 behind Symbian with Android and iPhone making dents in the Symbian space.
Only a fool would ignore that market segment and Jeff Bezos isn’t a fool.