The idea of “Recombinant Communications” (RC) was hatched with enterprise IT architecture in mind. Yet it provides a basic framework for development, deployment, distribution and ultimate adoption of “media rich” documents and conversations both inside and outside the enterprise. That’s why we want to take note of the newest rendition of Amazon.com’s Kindle App, Kindle with A/V, for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. It represents an instance where a varied array of “disaggregated” resources, from a number of suppliers can be re-assembled to improve the user’s experience, enjoyment or productivity.

As described in this press release, the new application brings embedded video and audio clips to folks reading Kindle-based books on the new iOS4. One of the first books is a travelogue (natch!), “Rick Steves’ London”. Another featured release is “Together We Cannot Fail”, a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Terry Golway. The latter publication was issued in late 2009 and was accompanied by a CD-ROM that featured audio recordings of FDR’s speeches and radio addresses, including the “fireside chats” that marked the inception of “ambient intimacy” on a mass medium. (Other titles with audio/video include the children’s classic “Alladin” and a cookbook called “Rose’s Heavenly Cakes”).

The new Kindle app for iOS4 app barely preceded its counterpart for Android-based devices. Yet it is the only one that supports Kindle books with A/V. It will very likely remain well ahead of Amazon’s own Kindle branded devices, which use an “electronic paper” display (using technology from E ink) that is not well-suited for video.

Amazon’s new apps features a lot of creative recombinance. While it depends on Apple’s iTunes store to distribute the iOS-based application, the app is tightly linked to the Kindle section of Amazon.com’s ecommerce Web site to support search, discovery, product selection and payment. The company takes the same approach to wireless distribution, which is carried out over “Whispernet”, a wireless data link that initially used Sprint’s EVDO network but has also migrated to AT&T’s much maligned and wireless data network. Versions of Kindle can be deployed on a variety of desktop, laptop and wireless platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Apple (both Mac OS X and iOS), Android and Blackberry.

As a “nice touch” on Amazon.com’s part, Kindle app users can take advantage of “WhisperSync”, which automatically keeps track of how far a reader progressed in a purchased book and provides the option to the furthest page when moving one device to another (for example from physical Kindle to the Kindle app on a mobile phone). Another offshoot of WhisperSync is a “group highlighting” function, whereby paragraphs or passages that are highlighted by a significant number of readers can be, likewise, highlighted in a reader’s personal copy. Obviously this can be annoying (harking back to buying used books in college and finding the previous owner was too judicious with the yellow highlighter), but it can also be as enlightening as the “like” button or Digg indicator on flagged content in a Web site.

The relationship between Kindle on the iOS4 and RC may seem a bit forced. After all, both Amazon.com and Apple operate the sort of high-availability, secure, e-commerce platforms that don’t lend themselves to “mash-ups”, Web 2.0 or tinkering from third-party application developers. Yet the addition of embedded video and audio to Kindle “books” on the iPad is exemplary of how a service provider (like Amazon) can pursue a best-of-breed approach to bringing new products or services to market. In doing so, a multiplicity of go-to-market partners mix-and-match (dare I say “mashup”?) the features and functions of their platforms on an “as needed” basis, in the context of the application requirements and in adherence to the terms, conditions and protocols baked into their API’s (application programming interfaces).

The strategic, organizational and competitive barriers have been breached. Technology was quick to follow. Customers become the beneficiaries. The evolution of the ebook from distribution of .PDF-like renderings of static, text-only documents to much more dynamic, networked resources that take full advantage of what the Internet, World Wide Web and social networks have to offer should be made more manifest by this offerings. It will not be long until the travelogue, kid’s book, cookbook and documentary is joined by other “shared” publications with direct relevance to students and businesspeople, as well as the casual reader.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Apple iPhone, Amazon.com, Recombinant Communications