Amazon unveils application to read Kindle e-books on Macs

Amazon released a free program on Thursday that allows Kindle electronic books to be read on Apple's Mac computers and said they will also be available on the upcoming iPad.

Amazon, in a statement, said the "Kindle for Mac" application can be downloaded in more than 100 countries from amazon.com/kindleformac.

Mac computers are the latest device to be given the ability to read e-books from the Kindle online store, which currently offers more than 450,000 titles including 102 of the 111 New York Times bestsellers.

Amazon has already released free applications that allow Kindle e-books to be read on the iPhone, the iPod Touch, the Blackberry from Research in Motion and personal computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

The programs allow a reader to switch between devices -- from a Kindle e-reader to an iPhone, for example -- without losing their place in a book.

Amazon said Kindle e-books will also be available on the iPad, which is to hit stores in the United States on April 3 and which some analysts have hailed as a potential rival to Amazon's Kindle e-reader.

The impending arrival of the iPad has forced Amazon to make concessions to some publishers who have complained over the 9.99-dollar price tag charged by Amazon for new releases and bestsellers in e-book format.

(c) 2010 AFP