Kindle + iPhone = Opportunities?

Buried in the announcement of the Kindle 2, Amazon also released a small nugget of information that had been flying around the Web for the past few days – that Kindle content will eventually come to cell phones.

So, how would that work? According to the announcement, the new Whispersync technology would allow readers to pause in reading a book on the Kindle and pick it back up on either another Kindle or eventually a cell phone. Not much detail was provided, though Gizmodo did confirm with Amazon's Ian Freed that Kindle content is on the way. Whether it's for the iPhone or Google's Android phone or the Blackberry, we don't know.

On one hand, the announcement is a victory for those advocating that digital content be available on more than one device. Amazon's already broken ground with music, and now wants to spread that to books. With more than 230,000 books currently available in the Kindle format, it's an impressive library to suddenly have at your fingertips.

On the other hand, Apple could see this as Amazon infringing on a potential product that could be sold and keep Kindle content off the iPhone. Yes, there is the Stanza store, but Amazon is by far a more visible and well-known competitor. I hope that this won't happen, as it'll just erode good will toward Apple, but it's by far not the first poor decision that Apple has made regarding what they feel belongs on the iPhone or not.
Personally, I'm actually of a mixed mind on the issue. I've been lusting after a Kindle for months, as my poor fiancé who hears those muttered longings will tell you, but haven't wanted to part with $359 for the device that definitely needed bugs ironed out in its first incarnation. I definitely see the advantages of being able to swap between Kindle and iPhone or just download straight to the iPhone.

But as I've bonded with my iPhone over the past 15 months, I've found that reading books on it wasn't a priority. I tried Stanza as soon as the App Store opened, but wasn't too thrilled with the interface. I settled on Classics, which I absolutely adore, but has a limited library. I tried standalone books available through the App Store and got mixed results.

The biggest problem I have with the iPhone is that the screen is just too small for reading novels. While writing this article, I pulled several books off my shelf – A Japanese light novel, its English-translated counterpart (which is the size of most manga currently available in the U.S.) and a traditional paperback, then set the iPhone next to them. The iPhone is less than half the size of the Japanese light novel, and those are pretty small! As seen earlier in the article, an iPhone is tiny next to a Kindle itself. I find myself reading a couple of pages, but then quickly abandoning the book. I spend more time flipping pages on an iPhone than actually reading the text.

We wouldn't have the Kindle without iPod or the iPhone, that much I'm sure of. I love my iPhone and will advocate it for most of my digital needs – except for books. In this case, I'll take a Kindle.

What do you think about Kindle content possibly coming to the iPhone, or the iPhone as a device for reading books? How would you handle the reading experience on an iPhone? Let us know in the comments!