Since buying my Droid phone a few months ago, it’s really chapped my hide that I haven’t been able to access my Kindle books on the thing. Don’t get me wrong, my Kindle 2 remains a hearty and beloved companion for most of the places I go, but there have been more than a few occasions where I found myself alone with my phone that I wished I had access to my latest literary conquest – at the doctor’s office, waiting for a table at a restaurant, yes, even the bathroom at work. Why do those stinking iPhone and Blackberry users get all the fun!?

As indicated by Amazon’s new splash page, they’ve finally jumped on the burgeoning Droid bandwagon. Unfortunately, it’s not quite like the iPad announcement, where they revealed their plans to release the app and then pushed it out to the public in basically the same breath. The best they could offer Droid owners was a nebulous release date sometime this summer and a field where you can submit your email address to be notified when the thing goes live.

Unfortunately, they seem to be ignoring the features that were also missing from the Apple versions of the app – namely the built-in dictionary and the ability to write new annotations. I suppose I can understand excluding the dictionary, given the challenges that go with implementing a feature like that on limited hardware, but these phones are practically built for writing text and it still baffles me that they’re unable to include that standard.

One feature they DID pick up on that I’m happy about though is the ability actually purchase books from your Droid itself. It was one of the most vexing omissions from the other mobile versions of the Kindle app – sometimes you just want to quickly grab a book based on somebody’s recommendation and up until now the store itself hasn’t been accessible. It’s one of those tiny details that you never pick out of a press release but that has an ability to affect your experience in a substantial way.

With this last platform conquered, the Kindle’s reach now extends to the Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, PC, Mac, and Blackberry. There are rumblings about Amazon releasing their next generation of eReader this year lately based on some job listings, but for the time being it looks like the media retail monolith is content to just cast their shadow over every multimedia device in the market. Will they last in the face of a Google onslaught? Only time will tell.

Amazon’s quest to have a foothold on just about every major computer and gadget platform possible came a step closer to completion recently, as they finally released Kindle for Mac, which rounds out their support for the PC, iPhone, and Blackberry. It’s available for download right now on Amazon’s website.

Like the Kindle for PC application before it, Kindle for Mac is fairly light as far as features go. After you put in your account information, you can download any of the books you’ve purchased via Amazon, and it will sync all your notes and bookmarks made with your other devices. Other than that, you can basically scroll through pages with your mouse wheel, change the size of the text and… that’s it. I’m still a fan of the ability to see notes cleanly on a big monitor, as the applications for students are potentially tremendous, but the fact that you can’t make new notes is staggeringly backward.

The lack of features or flash in these applications has started to become somewhat embarrassing. Where are the social applications? Why isn’t the Amazon store built into the program? Why am I not getting recommendations based on the books in my library? Why isn’t navigation simpler? You’d think they’d be trying to at least ape Apple’s style releasing a program on their platform.

Fortunately for Amazon, they do have a chance to redeem themselves with Apple fanatics. We’ve just learned that Amazon is planning to release a Kindle for Tablet computers app, and the copy on their website makes explicit mention of iPad support. This confirms our speculation from last week that the iPad would sport at least three different bookstores, including the iBookstore, Barnes & Noble’s store, and now Amazon’s. With all three companies looking for preferential pricing from publishers, this is about to get interesting, and underscores the need for Amazon to spice up their software offerings if they want to compete head-to-head with a beauty queen like Apple.

With all this focus on pushing out support for the store on all these different platforms, don’t you kind of get the feeling that Amazon has left Kindle itself by the wayside? The iPad is going to be able to do a great variety of things on top of being able to display all the content that the Kindle can (albeit in a far less readable, backlit way). So how can they really expect people to keep buying books in their proprietary file format, when the trend is clearly going cross-platform? These are questions Amazon is going to have to answer, and fast, before the iPad hits stores on April 3.

I have to admit, when I first purchased my Kindle 2, I was excited about the prospect of carrying around a device that had unlimited free access to AT&T’s 3G network. I hadn’t yet jumped on the smart phone bandwagon, so there was a certain novelty in the fact that I could check my Gmail account while sprawled on a beach blanket and soaking up the sun. Almost a year later, my Kindle use has hardly diminished, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I loaded up the browser. To me, that’s telling.

While the fact that I have purchase a Droid in the interim has a lot to do with its diminished use, anybody who has ever tried to use the Experimental Browser can attest to the fact that it is the farthest thing from intuitive. With no color and only the most rudimentary of navigation systems, the heights to which potential users can aspire are fairly limited – maybe checking your email or Google News if you’ve really got an itch.

A recent job posting by Amazon indicates that times may well be changing for Kindle Browser users. Originally noted in a tweet by CNET’s Stephen Shankland, the listing calls for a software development engineer to join their Web Browser team to develop applications for “innovative consumer-centric product solutions.” And what else could that be but the Kindle?

Of course, this begs the question, is Amazon taking on new hands to build out and expand the browser they have for the current iterations for the Kindle, or is this the first step in developing a browser solution for the still-highly-speculative new Kindle SKU? The evidence for the former isn’t terribly compelling. It doesn’t matter what kind of technical wizard you have behind the scenes – nobody is going to be able to do anything to improve the Kindle’s refresh rate, color display, or navigation, all of which are its biggest Achilles heel and are paradoxically tied to the technology that makes it among the best e-Readers on the market – the e-Ink screen.

If Amazon IS looking forward to the next version of the Kindle, that does make more sense. Having enlisted developers to come up with applications in the wake of the iPad announcement, it seems clear that Amazon isn’t content keeping the Kindle as an elegant, single-purpose device. They’ve been deluded by the Apple geek groupthink into believing that consumers are buying their product so they can carry another device around with which to mindless scroll through Facebook updates. At least if the next Kindle sports features like a full color display and a touch interface, it’ll actually be equipped to handle a proper web browser. Heck, if it can do Flash, it might even one-up the iPad.

We shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth if Amazon DOES decide to update the browser experience, but nobody should be shedding any tears if this new hire winds up working on something we’re not going to see for months, as I suspect is the case.

Being a Kindle aficionado is about more than merely owning a Kindle, whether it’s the Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, or a Kindle Touch that you’ve managed to smuggle back in time. While Amazon’s e-Reader becomes a fast friend and frequent companion for those lucky enough to own one, the experience extends beyond the bounds of the device. There is of course the Kindle for PC application, for which I’ve only recently found applicable uses, but that’s not where it ends.

The slightly more interesting application, however, comes on cell phones. There’s been a Kindle app in the iPhone app store for months now (something I suspect might receive a second look with the announcement of the iPad), but Amazon has announced that a free Kindle app for the BlackBerry is now available for all customers based in the U.S. Or at least the ones who own the following models:

• Bold 9000
• Bold 9700
• Curve 8520
• Curve 8900
• Storm 9530
• Storm 9550
• Tour 9630

Simply type “amazon.com/kindlebb” into your browser on your BlackBerry, and the program will download. After that, it’s simply a matter of putting in your Amazon account information, and you’ll have unlimited access to all of the books, newspapers, magazines, and notes that are connected with your Amazon account. Even those who don’t yet own a Kindle can use the application, which makes it a good bet for those who aren’t sold on the whole e-Reader concept yet, or who just like the look of $9.99 new releases instead of paying $29.99 for a cumbersome hardcover edition.

I am somewhat dubious about the prospect of reading a book on a BlackBerry screen, to be honest. The iPhone app seemed like something of a stretch to my bespectacled eyes, but the BlackBerry Curve and Bold have even less screen real estate to work with, and they’re all backlit. This is why e-Readers are replete with e-Ink technology to begin with! It’s just hard to see on these bright little screens.

Still, as unwieldy as the practical applications of Kindle apps for cell phones are, I find myself curiously upset that they haven’t yet come out in support of Google’s Android operating system. My poor Droid Eris will be relegated to the uncultured morass of turret defense games and the mobile version of the New York Times, at least for the time being. For those BlackBerry owners out there, enjoy!