If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be Amazon's motto these days. Recently, Amazon announced that it will partner with Samsung on a new ebook app called Kindle for Samsung.
The app will grant users access to Amazon's treasure trove of ebooks, magazines, articles and other digital reading material. Users will also get a free ebook every month for a year if they joined the app by referral.
Kindle for Samsung will be available on the Samsung Galaxy S5 first, but any Samsung device running Android 4.0 or higher will be able to download the new app. The app will arrive in 90 countries around the world this month and spread if it meets with success.
The free book offer is part of the Samsung Book Deals promotion, which allows users to choose between four different titles each month for 12 months if they were referred to Kindle for Samsung and actually use the service. Even though you don't get to choose your free ebook from the entire Amazon catalog, any day you get a free ebook is a good one.
The app will of course be available on Samsung tablets, too, which are the second-bestselling tablets on the market after Apple's iPads. If Samsung wants to keep chipping away at Apple's hold on the tablet market, having a quality ebook app alternative to the stock Google Play Books app is a really good idea, as many use their tablets as ereaders.
The Kindle for Samsung app also hints at Samsung's efforts to distance its essential app offerings from Android. Now that Samsung has officially stated that it plans to release a Tizen OS smartphone in the second quarter of 2014, this move away from Google Play Books is all the more logical.
Of course, for Amazon, partnering with Samsung is a no-brainer. The new app will spread out Amazon's offerings to many Samsung devices and get the Kindle app off the Kindle tablet, which has significantly less appeal in comparison with Samsung's impressive tablet lineup.
