Amazon’s new Kindle comes in a smaller, darker package and they’re positioning it to compete with Apple’s iPad (which can also read Kindle books) on price ($139 for Wi-Fi $189 for 3G) and a laser-like focus on reading.

• All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
• Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
• New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
• New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6″ size reading area
• 17% Lighter – Only 8.5 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
• Battery Life of Up to One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
• Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
• Built-In Wi-Fi – Shop and download books in less than 60 seconds
• 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
• Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
• New WebKit-Based Browser – Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

Much smarter than simply trying to re-brand it as KindlePad…

[Amazon]

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Amazon has announced Kindle Editions with Audio/Video and it looks like the only way you can get it right now is on iPhone and iPad. Kindle Editions with Audio/Video:

allows readers to enjoy the benefits of embedded video and audio clips in Kindle books. The first books to take advantage of this new technology, including Rick Steves’ London by Rick Steves and Together We Cannot Fail by Terry Golway, are available in the Kindle Store

“In the new Kindle Edition with audio/video of Rick Steves’ London, the embedded walking tours allow customers to listen to Rick as they explore the sites of London,” said Bill Newlin, publisher, Avalon Travel. “Rick’s narration adds depth to the reader’s experience, while listeners can follow the routes more easily with the text.”

The Kindle app has also been updated to support iPhone 4’s Retina Display. If you decide to try out these new fangled talking, walking eBooks, let us know what you think.

[iTunes link, Amazon PR, Kindle Editions with Audio/Video]

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Kindle on iPad is, well, not as good as Kindle on a Kindle or iBooks. That’s going to be the bottom line for a lot of people. It works in both portrait and landscape – though curiously I can’t find a way to get a two-column book view in landscape. You can do most of the traditional ebook things: change the font size, adjust brightness, jump to any point in the book, have your place saved, etc. On Kindle you can also bookmark pages and add your own notes – all of which get synced up to Amazon’s cloud so you can see them on other Kindle devices like your iPhone, a Kindle, etc.

Instead of an in-app store, Amazon sends you to Safari to browse and search for Kindle book – which I don’t find especially annoying because the iPad’s web browser is so good. Amazon has a slightly better selection of books than Apple does too, though in both cases I often find myself stymied when trying to find a particular book.

With both Kindle and iBooks my basic feeling is that they’re good for light reading, but the difficulty of entering and exporting notes means that while I’ll use them for entertainment, I won’t use them for ’serious’ work.

Hopefully Amazon will update this app to support two-column landscape mode soon.

Video and gallery after the break!

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If you’ve got the iPhone or iPod touch version of Amazon’s Kindle App [Free - iTunes link] check your updates because the new Kindle 2.0, universal binary version with iPad support is now live in the App Store!

Boasting 450,000 books (for US customers, international availability varies), and Whispersync convenience between Kindle device, iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad, Apple doesn’t seem to have a problem with duplicating iBooks functionality.

It also says you can shop the Kindle store, though whether that means you can do it within the app, like iBookstore, or if you still have to go to the Amazon.com website first… we’ll find out tomorrow.

If you’re a Kindle Books lover, let us know how you enjoy reading them on your iPad!

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According to Mac Rumors, Best Buy is gearing up for Apple’s iPad launch on April 3rd. The retail chain is providing its employees with details leading up to launch day and stores are expecting display materials early next week. Not every Best Buy will carry the device, however. Only the stores with Apple shop sections will be lucky enough to sell iPads at launch. If you do plan on making a purchase at Best Buy on April 3rd be aware none of their stores will be opening early.

In other iPad sales news, 9to5Mac points out Amazon.com also seems to be prepping for iPad sales as well by setting up a placeholder for all three WiFi versions on their site. So while you will not see it on Amazon for sale on day one, it should not be long after.

More choices are better for the consumer, but which choice is best for you? Where will you be picking up your iPad? Let us know in the comments below!

Best Buy and Amazon Gearing Up for iPad Launch. Where Are You Shopping? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Confirming that it won’t just be Apple’s iBookstore (and your own free ePubs) on the iPad, the New York Times today mentions that both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both working on book stores of their own. While both market their own hardware devices, the Kindle and the Nook respectively, the iPad is expected to throw a huge spotlight on eBooks in general, and they want to benefit:

The Kindle app for the iPad, which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week, allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers. It also presents two new ways for people to view their entire e-book collection, including one view where large images of book covers are set against a backdrop of a silhouetted figure reading under a tree. The sun’s position in that image varies with the time of day.

At the offices of Barnes & Noble’s digital unit in New York, 14 developers have occupied a windowless room since January, completely redesigning the company’s iPhone app for the iPad, according to Douglas Gottlieb, its vice president of digital products. The developers hunch over Macs around a big table, and printouts and notecards are taped up on the walls.

The new app will let users flip through books quickly with finger swipes and customize fonts in multiple colors and sizes. Mr. Gottlieb said the company was talking to publishers about adding multimedia to digital books.

Neither company received one of those secret, early-access iPad units for testing, so while they may be simulator-ready for the April 3 launch, they may not want to release until they’ve had a chance to run their apps on the real hardware. Comic reader app Panefly, for example, thinks a bad day 1 experience with an app that worked fine in the lab but poorly on the actual iPad could “kill the train before it leaves the station”.

As to whether or not Apple will approve competing bookstores for the iPad App Store, TiPb’s always felt that the best indicator was Steve Jobs announcing iBooks as a separate, downloadable app rather than a built-in like iTunes Store. While this may have also reflected iBooks US-only availability, and there’s never any way to tell for sure what Apple will do until they do it, at the end of the day they want to move hardware and letting existing Kindle (and Nook) owners bring over their books is a great way to lower the barrier of iPad entry.

Right now, both the Kindle for iPhone [Free- iTunes link] and Barnes & Noble eReader for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] frequire a clunky web-based work around for purchasing books, however, and it would be nice to see that process actually integrated into the apps — like iBooks and the iBookstore.

So, given the choice, what will you be buying and reading your eBooks with — Amazon Kindle for iPad, Barnes & Noble eBook Reader for iPad, or Apple’s iBooks?

[NYT via AppleInsider]

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