Kindle...as an iPad App

You could argue I'm cheating a bit with this one.  After all, earlier today Amazon announced they're offering a Kindle for the iPad app.  Or, as the headline says, "Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers", followed by "Including the iPad" in about the tiniest type possible!  It must pain Jeff Bezos & Co. to have to offer an app for the hot, new device that's about to clobber theirs, but it's the right thing to do.  I just wish they'd make it more functional.

So what exactly should the Kindle app for the iPad do?  More than the Kindle for Mac app I recently downloaded.  The Kindle iPhone app is nice.  It lets me read my books on the go, even if I don't have my Kindle with me.  The apps for larger devices (PCs, Macs and now iPad) should do more though.  Whispersync is handy but I want something more than just a window into my books.

Let's start with cut-and-paste options.  Come on, is Amazon really unable to convince publishers it's OK to cut-and-paste content?  Who is that penalizing?  Do you really think anyone who wants to steal and share the book is going to cut-and-paste every single page?!

Next, how about social networking capabilities?  I've been complaining about this since I got my Kindle.  Why in the world haven't they built in a "tweet this" feature?  It doesn't exist on the Kindle and it doesn't exist in the Kindle apps.  Stupid.

Finally, why is this service limited to books?  It just shows how the newspapers and magazines on the Kindle are an afterthought.  Or, in this case, there's no thought given to them at all.

Amazon, please don't release a brain-dead Kindle app for the iPad.  Give me a reason to want to buy more Kindle edition books from you.  Make the iPad app as rich an experience as the iPad itself.

Aw, who am I kidding?  The key features they're playing up on the app page are things like "customize background color and font size", "adjust screen brightness" and "page turn animation."  This app will be as stripped-down as the Mac version.  At least I'll get to read the rest of my Kindle library on my iPad as I switch to the iBookstore.