Amazon.com Inc. has expanded its suite of free Kindle reading applications to support Google’s Android operating system.

Customers worldwide can now download this free application from Android Market to access Amazon’s selection of Kindle ebooks on their Android-powered devices. The free Kindle applications let United States customers discover, buy and read more than 620,000 books in the Kindle Store, including New York Times Bestsellers and new releases from $9.99.

“This app enables Kindle owners to access their Kindle books even when they don’t happen to have their Kindles with them,” said Kinley Campbell, spokeswoman for Amazon.com, Seattle. “It also provides Android users who don’t have Kindle the ability to purchase and read Kindle books on their Android device.

“Customers can wirelessly download Kindle content to their Android device, including content that they may have already purchased for their Kindle, Kindle DX, Kindle for PC, Kindle for iPhone, Kindle for Mac or Kindle for iPad,” she said.

“Whispersync allows customers to never lose their place when they’re reading—they can read on their Android phone in a cab, and pick up with their Kindle for PC app when they get to the office, and then finish the chapter on their Kindle when they get to the coffee shop.”

Amazon.com’s Kindle and Kindle DX are portable readers that wirelessly download ebooks, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a high-resolution electronic ink display.

Kindle and Kindle DX use the same 3G wireless technology as mobile phones, so users do not need to hunt for a WiFi hotspot.

Kindle for Android
Purchases on Kindle for Android are conducted the same way as you would buy a book on Kindle—they are charged to the card consumers have selected as their one-click settings.

Like all Kindle applications, Kindle for Android includes Amazon’s Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes customers’ books and bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, PC and now Android-powered phones so customers can always have their reading material with them.

Bestsellers such as “Backlash” by Aaron Allston, “Big Girl” by Danielle Steel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot and “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown, and hundreds of thousands of other books are $9.99 or less in the Kindle Store.

Android-powered device owners can now take advantage of the following Kindle features:

• Search and browse more than 620,000 books, including 108 of 111 New York Times Bestsellers, plus tens of thousands of the most popular classics for free directly from their Android device

• Read the first chapter of books for free before they decide to buy

• Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free

• Synchronize last page read between their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Android-powered phone

• Customize background color, font color and font size to help ease eyestrain

• Read in portrait or landscape mode, tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages

• Adjust screen brightness from within the app to make reading easier

Several features will be added to Kindle for Android in the near future, including full text search and purchasing of Kindle books from within the application.

“Kindle for Android and the rest of the free Kindle apps are the perfect companions for the millions of readers around the world who already own a Kindle, and a great way for people who don’t yet own a Kindle to start reading Kindle books,” Ms. Campbell said.