Released on May 1, 2013, the new Kindle app for iOS utilizes the native accessibility built into Apple devices, VoiceOver to provide accessibility…finally! While this is welcome news, the real irony here, as the Assistive Technology Blog points out in their review of the app, the Kindle app on iOS is now more accessible than the physical Kindle.
Using VoiceOver, text-to-speech software built into iOS devics, blind or visually users may access the print in most Kindle titles. Some titles may still not permit text-to-speech access, presumably because the publisher has chosen not to provide Digital Rights Management (DRM) to the title. Before buying your Kindle book, make sure it can be read using VoiceOver.
For more in-depth perspective on Amazon Kindle’s slow migration to accessibility read the National Federation of the Blind’s (NFB) recent press release and a more extensive history of the issue.
David Woodbridge provides a demo of the new Kindle App on Maine Manu. Download it at http://mainmenu.acbradio.org/file.php?method=download&episode=2013-05-10.