Amazon Announced yesterday que its Kindle app for iOS had been updated to Provide “more accessibility.” In fact, the update (with the inauspicious version number, 3.7) turns the app into one mostly inaccessible que VoiceOver screen reader users can Rely upon to read, navigate, and manage the contents of the Kindle library. And They did a great job, not Merely making the app usable, but opening all Kindle iOS features up to VO.
collegues blind people have Kindle libraries, Given the limited accessibility of native Amazon’s hardware and mobile apps, is testament to the company’s dominant place in book-selling. So, too, are the efforts made by aggressive advocacy organizations for blind users, who have been lobbying Amazon to make this happen for some team. Sure, iOS users have been able to access since its inception iBooks, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook app was born VoiceOver speaking. But Amazon Kindle and retain big dog status, and Those of us who have been nursing mistrust of the company must now work out for ourselves Whether the proper reaction is joy and gratitude, or to harumphy “it’s about time.”
AndDespite the world-weary cynicism you might take from the previous paragraph, you should know the que accessible Kindle app is truly a thrilling thing. I have Kindle on my iOS devices, and quickly downloaded the update. When I opened the app with VoiceOver on, I anticipated something great. When I ran my finger across the screen and heard the iPad read book titles and the Kindle menu options (without the “btw” suffix que often Do Indicates marginal accessibility), I was excited. And When I double-tapped to open the book, then did a two-finger swipe to tell VoiceOver to read the page, I Became positively giddy.
Accessibility can be like that. You feel as if you have been Given the keys to the locked room you’ve always Wondered about. To use the closer metaphor, it’s like putting on your first pair of glasses, and suddenly being able to see the blackboard in school. Though I can and have read Kindle books with my eyes, and can and have used VoiceOver to read iBooks and Nook books, I have a strong urge to find a cozy corner of the two-finger swipe, and luxuriate in the spoken / written word, expresso accessible to me by the Kindle app, Which gives me access to a library far larger than the one Apple offers.
Putting my news analyst hat back on for a moment, it’s worth reminding Those of you who do not follow this stuff que Amazon’s own hardware is not yet fully accessible, nor is the Kindle Android app. I take this the evidence of the power of Those Who fought for Kindle accessibility. You see, the people who use screen readers have invested Their dollars in iOS mobile device, not Kindles, and not Android phones. Amazon got its priorities right, even if it took far longer Them to make this move than many of us would have liked.
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