Kindle Review – Kindle 3 Review, iPad Review

Disclaimer: This is based on my understanding of the APIs that have been announced. Hopefully someone from the Amazon Team will step in and correct mistakes and clarify.

Disclaimer 2: The APIs and everything else might change. It’s only after trying out the simulator (hoping they let me into the Beta program) and trying out apps on my Kindle that what’s possible and what’s not will be clear.

It’d be great if some developers chimed in – especially J2ME developers. Here are the sort of Apps that seem possible and not possible based on the APIs and what Amazon have said.

Apps that are not allowed or impossible

Apps that are explicitly forbidden

There are some Kindle Apps that Amazon has disallowed -

1. Voice over IP Apps. So no Skype.
2. Advertising. That will rule out lots of apps that developers would add for free and support with ads. It’s a good move in my opinion. 
3. Offensive Materials – No Idea what Amazon will find offensive. 
4. Apps that collect customer information without customers knowing about it and consenting to it. Good for kindle owners.
5. Not contain malicious code – Again, good for kindle owners.
6. Any apps that try to illegally profit from the Amazon or Kindle brands.
7. Apps that don’t meet Amazon technical requirements – this has to do with performance guidelines.
8. Not be a generic reader – Rules out any sort of reading apps.

Apps that can’t be made because of lack of API support.

[Unconfirmed - via Hacker News] It seems that there are no APIs for -

1. Sound. Rules out an mp3 player app?
2. Location. Rules out GPS Apps and ‘Kindle Owners Near Me’ apps.

Will update this with more exclusions soon.

Apps that can’t be made because of technology restrictions.

1. Any sort of video or animation apps – rules out 2D and 3D games. Puzzle games are still possible.
2. Apps that need color.  
3. Only the Kindle DX has an accelerometer so accelerometer based games wouldn’t work on the Kindle 2.

Apps that might not make it because of bandwidth costs.

First, on bandwidth costs -

Every MB in size of the app means 15 cents has to be paid.  

Every MB in bandwidth means 15 cents has to be paid.

Apps smaller than 1 MB and using less than 100Kb/user/month don’t have to pay bandwidth costs.

Apps that use more than 100 KB/user/month must be subscription apps.

As you can imagine those limitations rule out a LOT of apps -

1. You get only 3 KB/user/month for free.
2. An app that uses 1 MB a day will cost $4.50 in bandwidth costs a month.
3. Browsers are probably ruled out.
4. Email Apps are probably ruled out. 
5. Texting apps might be possible. Twitter Apps are possible too.
6. Facebook is probably ruled out. Facebook Status Updates App might be possible.
7. Music streaming apps are ruled out.  
8. News Streamer Apps are doable.
9. Stock Quote Apps might be doable.
10. Blogs and RSS Readers are ruled out.

Apps that may or may not be possible

These are apps for which it’s hard to say whether they’ll be supported -

1. Folders app. 
2. Font Changer App – the restriction on reading apps makes this very unlikely.
3. PDF Viewer – again the restriction on reading apps makes this very unlikely.
4. Custom Screensaver App.
5. Security App.

Amazon have said they’ll add Folders in mid 2010 which makes it even less likely they’ll allow a Folders app. I really hope they do though – Tagging Apps and Folder Apps with different design methodologies would really add a lot to the Kindle.

Apps that are possible

Apps based on Specific APIs

The Java Personal Basis Profile lets developers build Graphical UI Java applications for devices that are resource constrained. It includes java.awt and java.beans.

There are lots of things supported. Please read the Personal Basis Profile Overview for more.

In addition to the Personal Basis Profile APIs there are specific Kindle APIs which we’ll look at below.

This is a simple list of APIs and classes and the Apps that they might enable.

1. Util.Timer – This allows scheduling tasks in the future and also can support multiple threads. This could mean apps like alarms and such.
2. ImageUtil - Allows working with images. This ought to allow for a lot of apps – Screensaver apps, Photo Album Apps, and a lot more.  
3. UI – Orientation Controller. This lets an app change the orientation on the Kindle, and also lock and unlock orientation.  
4. UI – Lets apps do a lot of things like take text input, show menus, buttons, and a lot more.
5. SecureStorage – Store and retrieve sensitive data. It’d be useful for Apps that keep personal data such as password managers, Private Journals, and such.
6. Net – For Apps that use the 3G connection. Lots of possibilities. Only http and https can be used to connect to remote servers.
7. Kindle Key Codes – To map the keys. Lots of games etc. will use this. Perhaps a shortcuts app.

Apps that are simple games

1. Crossword. 
2. Card Games like Solitaire.
3. Chess.
4. Sudoku.  
5. Puzzle Games. 

Apps that don’t need 3G connectivity

1. Simple games.
2. Bookshelves App. 
3. Page Numbers App – It’d be approximate.
4. Photo Album App.
5. Calendar App.
6. Calculator.
7. Thesaurus.
8. Quotes App.
9. Jokes App.

Apps that could work as subscription apps

1. An app that adds reviews to Amazon. Amazon might even allow this app free bandwidth.
2. Book Cover Flow App. If a user is buying less than 10 books a month and each book cover is 10 KB or so it comes under the bandwidth limits for free apps.
3. Kindle to Kindle IM App.
4. Email alert App that only lists sender and subject.

The Huge Kindle App List

Here’s a list of possible Kindle Apps drafted on January 21st (before the API was revealed). Keep in mind that the restrictions rule out some possibilities. We are still left with a lot of potential apps.

Closing Thought

It’ll be interesting to see what’s possible and what’s not. There are certainly a lot of restrictions – However, there’s still scope to come up with some pretty useful applications.

It’ll be great if developers surprise us with their ingenuity when the Kindle App Store opens up.