Kindle Fire will make Amazon’s books interactive

Interesting news from Amazon – the online retailer’s forthcoming Android Tablet, the Kindle Fire, will support a new format for ebooks that enables publishers to embed interactive elements on the epage.

Kindle Format 8 (KF8) includes the ability to write HTML5 commands into book copy, which can then be read by the Kindle Fire’s reader. Authors will be able to include media links, videos and weblinks into their words – rather like many already do when publishing books as standalone apps for iOS or Android.

The really interesting thing for EAT is that comics are singled out for special treatment, with high resolution panes and rich formatting. It could make the Kindle Fire the definitive tablet for graphic novels.

Normal e-ink Kindles won’t be able to use the extra formatting, but its unclear as to whether or not the Kindle app for other tablets will.