Talk about bucking the trend Amazon is notifying customers today that on October 27 the company will eliminate their Windows 8-era Kindle app from the Windows Store. The company cites wanting to "simplify our approach" and focus efforts on their existing Kindle for PC app.
That's right. While many businesses are moving towards Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform for both security and higher visibility, Amazon would rather go back to a traditional Win32 Desktop app complete with an .exe installer.
Let's rock it like it's 2005.
Below is the entire email forwarded to us by Benjamin K.,
For the past few years Amazon has supported two separate Kindle apps for Windows PCs. In order to provide our Windows customers with the best Kindle reading experience, we are simplifying our approach and focusing our efforts on the Kindle for PC app.If you are currently using our other Windows app (Kindle for Windows 8) on one or more of your PCs, we recommend that you upgrade to the Kindle for PC app to get the best reading experience and latest Kindle features. We are regularly updating the Kindle for PC app, including recent features like multi-color highlighting, improved search performance, and support for textbooks.To simplify the experience for Windows customers, we will remove the Kindle for Windows 8 app from the Windows Store on October 27, 2016. If you already have the app installed on your PC and wish to keep using it, you can continue to download and read books as you do today. If you uninstall the Kindle for Windows 8 app, you won't be able to reinstall it from the Windows Store.If you have questions (or if you have a Windows RT device), please see our Kindle for PC help page.
We haven't reported on an update for Amazon Kindle for PC since 2013.
While we have heard of companies leaving the Windows Store, few sought refuge in the old Win32 era app world. Then again, it would seem that the majority of Kindle reading is done on dedicated Kindle readers these days and not so much on PCs (though we could be wrong). It is especially weird since an Amazon Kindle UWP app with Inking support for Surface users (highlighting, notetaking) seems like a natural combination for students, teachers, and general bibliophiles.
As to whether Amazon will take their Win32 app and put it through Centennial to at least get some Windows Store visibility remains to be seen. One thing is for sure and that is Amazon is not down with Microsoft or putting their services on the Windows Store.
Interestingly, Amazon has not said anything about their Windows Phone 8 Kindle app, which is still on the Store. It is not clear if that app will ever see another update or if it too will be removed. As to why the company won't just create one app for both PC and Mobile using UWP, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You can grab the Kindle for PC app on Amazon's site.
Thanks, Ben and Jared, for the tip!
