Amazon opens enrollment for Kindle developer beta program

Amazon.com announced open enrollment for its Kindle developer beta program, promising enrollees access to the tools necessary to create "active content" for the online retailer's Kindle ebook platform. According to the Kindle Development Kit website, the KDK includes a Kindle simulator (both 6-inch and 9.7-inch) that works on Windows, Mac OS and Linux--developers can register up to three Kindle devices through the developer portal, and the owners of those devices will receive invitations to download and test the applications in question. The KDK also features two sets of APIs: Java version 1.4 Personal Basis Profile APIs for mobile devices, and Kindle custom APIs that complement the PBP APIs and provide UI components, JSON and XML parsers, HTTP and HTTPS networking, secure storage and additional features. Amazon adds that future releases of the KDK will include audio and dictionary access APIs.

The KDK site notes that developers should be able to modify existing Java applets and J2ME software to port over to Kindle. In addition, developers can include other third-party software libraries as long as they imported to the same binary archive file as the application. "At this time, the KDK enables you to build active content that runs on the Kindle 6-inch and Kindle DX 9.7-inch devices," the FAQ notes. "The Kindle client applications for other platforms do not currently support Kindle active content."

For more on the Kindle developer beta program:
- read this Amazon Web Services Blog entry

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