Amazon's Kindle service is nearly fully Mac-compatible, as Amazon today launched a beta of their Kindle app for Apple computers. The free application allows Amazon customers full access to Amazon's electronic book offerings, and allows bibliophiles to read full books on their laptops and desktops without the use of Kindle.

It is also fully compatible with the handheld Kindle readers though, synchronizing bookmarks and pages read, so that users can switch back and forth between devices without ever losing their place.

The timing of the announcement is more than just coincidence, though. With the looming release Apple's iPad - with its own iBooks store and reading function - Amazon is doing everything it can to prevent users from defecting to Jobs' 'magical device'. Whether releasing the Kindle app for Mac will help stop the Apple juggernaut is up for debate, however; it seems unlikely people will be willing to sacrifice the convenience of a tablet in favor of reading on their computers.

Appleinsider