Amazon invites developers to come up with Apps for Kindle

Amazon is inviting software developers to come up with new applications for its e-reader, as the battle for electronic readership gets set to heat up with the launch of Apple Inc.’s Tablet slated for next week.

The online retailer wants developers to build and upload active content that will be made available through its Kindle store later this year. A Kindle Development Kit will give developers access to programming interfaces, tools and documentation to build apps for the Kindle e-reader.

"We've heard from lots of developers over the past two years who are excited to build on top of Kindle," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "The Kindle Development Kit opens many possibilities-we look forward to being surprised by what developers invent."

Apps are either fun or useful tools that can be downloaded onto mobile phones or other electronic devices and have proved highly popular with consumers.

Apple already has a store selling thousands of the widgets. Some popular picks this week include Zombie Pizza, a race game to feed ravenous Zombies, and a copy of Shakespeare’s works.

Among apps already in the works for Kindle are a Zagat guide, built by Handmark, featuring ratings and reviews for restaurants in cities around the world, and word games and puzzles from Sonic Boom.

The first developers will be able to begin working on apps for the Kindle from next month. Those wait-listed will be invited to participate as space becomes available.

The Kindle Development Kit includes sample code, documentation, and the Kindle Simulator, which helps developers build and test their content by simulating the 6-inch Kindle and 9.7-inch Kindle DX on Mac, PC, and Linux desktops.

Amazon yesterday announced it was upping royalties for authors for each e-book sold. Under the new program, which takes effect on June 30, Amazon will pay authors and publishers 70 percent of a book's list price, net of delivery costs. The plan is limited to e-books whose list price is between $2.99 and $9.99.

App developers are expected to receive a similar deal, according to the New York Times.

The move was seen to pre-empt competition from Apple, which is widely expected to launch its version of the e-reader on Jan. 27 in San Francisco.

The Kindle became available in Canada in late November, though without the ability to browse the Internet.

The e-reader market is expected to become big business, with revenue rising from $1.3 billion in 2010 to $2.5 billion by 2013, according to a report from the Boston-based Yankee Group.