Via Booksquare and Richard Nash comes news that Amazon is rolling out a Kindle application for the iPhone. Which strikes me as, well, big.

That said, some of the quotes in the story from Amazon’s representatives seem a little….odd.

But Amazon said that it sees its Kindle reader and devices like the iPhone as complementary, and that people will use their mobile phones to read books only for short periods, such as while waiting in grocery store lines.

“We think the iPhone can be a great companion device for customers who are caught without their Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Amazon’s vice president in charge of the Kindle.

I don’t own an iPhone myself, so I can’t speak from experience, but it does seem like the popularity of the Stanza reader belies the “people won’t read on their phones for long periods” argument. Which suggests either that Amazon is unwilling to admit this or is trying very hard to spin this take on reading habits in their direction. Certainly, there will be Kindle owners who also own iPhones — but I tend to think that for most, it’ll be one or the other.

(All of which also makes me wonder whether we’re going to see a format war before long. This Eric Kraft interview — link via Sarah Weinman — has some interesting comments at the end concerning writing with the Kindle in mind…)