Hello Craig, Neal, and Others, To follow up on the comments by Craig and Neal, no, there does not seem to be a specific contact number or email address for general accessibility issues of the iOS Kindle app. But the general "Contact Us" link with selection to be contacted by phone that was described does work. Craig mentioned that Michael Iams' guide to using VoiceOver on the Kindle for iOS app did not give very much new information to someone who is already familiar with VoiceOver's gestures. That's true, but as someone who downloaded that guide within the first few hours of the announcement of the Kindle app's accessibility, and who is familiar with VoiceOver's gestures, that guide was useful because it explicitly gave the URL and procedure to use for purchasing, and the instructions that repeated many of the VoiceOver gestures that we know, referenced the fact that these features worked with dictionary lookup, note creation and bookmarking, and for reading support on Braille devices. So I posted the link to the guide in the AppleVis guides section, and I'll repeat the URL that Craig gave:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CL5NIGU Please note that if you use an Amazon store in a different country, you should change the "www.amazon.com" URL prefix to this link to the appropriate one for your country, like "www.amazon.co.uk" for the UK, and "www.amazon.com.ca" for Canada. That also applies to the mobile store addresses they give in the guide. Also, for some weird reason, Canada and Brazil charge for this guide, which is free in the US, UK, Japan, and every Amazon store in the European Union countries. There is an Amazon forum page with a post on the topic of accessibility. As far as I can tell, the replies are from other users since this is a forum for customers. If you go to the Kindle Forums URL at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/forums/kindleqna/ and then select the link for "New Accessibility Features to Free Kindle Reading iOS Apps" you'll be there. Here's the shortened link directly to the forum (which works now): http://amzn.to/16n6ttR This is the most complete announcement of the new accessibility features, and I don't think I've seen this posted here. Here's the top forum post: <begin quote> Today we announced new accessibility features for the Kindle reading app, making it easier than ever for blind and visually impaired customers to navigate their Kindle libraries, read and interact with their books, and more. These new features are available starting today on Kindle for iOS, and accessibility enhancements will be available on additional platforms in the future. New accessibility features of the Kindle app enable blind and visually impaired customers to: - Read aloud over 1.5 million titles available in the Kindle Store using Apple's VoiceOver technology. Over 300,000 of these books are exclusive to the Kindle Store. Over 700,000 books are less than $4.99; over a million are less than $9.99. - Seamlessly navigate within their library or within a book, with consistent title, menu and button names; navigate to a specific page within a book and sort books in the library by author or title. - Read character-by-character, word-by-word, line-by-line, or continuously, as well as move forward or backward in the text. - Search for a book within their library or search within their book and navigate to specific text. - Add and delete notes, bookmarks, and highlights. - Use customer-favorite features like X-Ray, End Actions and sharing on Facebook and Twitter. - Look up words in the dictionary and Wikipedia. - Customize the reading experience including changing the font, text size, background color, margin, and brightness. - Use iOS accessibility features like Zoom, Assistive Touch, and Stereo to Mono, as well as peripheral braille displays. Other new features include: - Easily rate and review books by accessing `Before you go...' directly from The `Go to' menu - Enhancements to `Before you go...' including the ability to download a free sample and email yourself a reminder about recommended books. - Additional Font Selection for Japan - Hiragino Mincho ProN (Serif) These new accessibility features are available first on the Kindle app for iOS and accessibility features will be added to other Kindle apps in the future. Customers can download the new Kindle for iOS app for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone or iPod touch or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore. Blind and visually impaired customers interested in using a Kindle app can also choose Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin, a free application for Windows PC's. <end quote> I'll end by saying that for current resources on using the Kindle app with VoiceOver, good sources of information are the article by Justin Romack at Fedora Outlier, for which Neal, and some others posted links in earlier posts. I'll give the shortened link here: • BREAKING: Amazon’s Kindle for iOS Updated with Accessibility (article by Justin Romack at Fedora Outlier) http://bit.ly/12sWT1D I'd also recommend David Woodbridge's podcast at AppleVis: • Kindle for iOS: Read Kindle Titles on your iOS Device http://bit.ly/18RrQzY If, by chance, someone is still looking for the App Store URL for the new Kindle for iOS app, here it is: • Kindle – Read Books, eBooks, Magazines, Newspapers & Textbooks (free) by Amazon Mobile LLC https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle-read-books-ebooks-magazines/id302584613?mt=8 And finally, there is a direct phone number for Amazon Kindle services, although I received it in the email I sent to add an attachment to Kindle Personal Document Services (subject of a separate recent email post to this list). Because there was a conversion error in the attachment I submitted, I received an automatic reply with the following last line: <begin quote> If you would like immediate assistance, please contact customer support at +1-866-321-8851 (US customers) or +1-206-266-0927 (International Customers). Sincerely, Amazon Kindle Support <end quote> HTH. Cheers, Esther On May 10, 8:21 am, Craig Werner <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, Neal. > > I don't seem to be communicating very well today. <smile> > > There is indeed an email address to use for questions of Kindle app > accessibility, but it is only for the Kindle for PC with Accessibility > Plugin app, the program to be used with Windows machines. There > appears to be no address to use specifically for the Kindle for iOS > app, the one which works on Apple devices. > > In the case of the link to an accessible "Contact Us" form, Amazon > doesn't mean that one can use that link only for the purpose of > contacting the company about accessibility issues, but rather that a > user with a screen reader can use it because it may be more compatible > with screen readers than their standard form is. > > Hope this helps. > > Craig > > On 5/10/13, Neal Ewers <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Craig, thanks for the clarification of what you were trying to accomplish. > > I > > have a question. > > > You said, "there is a dedicated email address to which to send comments and > > questions about the Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin." I understood > > your message below to say that you were told there was not such an address. > > My understanding, and let me know if I am incorrect, is that the > > accessibility link we can click on does not necessarily take you to links > > for accessible product help. It is just a page that is easier to use than > > their normal page. Yes? No? > > > Thanks for the help. > > > Neal > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > > Of Craig Werner > > Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 11:43 AM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Response from Amazon about Emailing Questions about Kindle for > > iOS App > > > Neal, the phone option is one I have exercised from time to time, and > > often--but not always--I have received solid help. The intent of my > > inquiry > > was not to determine whether I could get someone to help me quikckly but > > rather to determine if there was a special email address to which to direct > > questions about accessibility. In other words, I was wondering if Amazon > > maintains a special department or sub-department to answer questions about > > the usability of the iOS app by people with special needs. Interestingly > > enough, there is a dedicated email address to which to send comments and > > questions about the Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin software. > > > Craig > > > On 5/10/13, Neal Ewers <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Had you selected contact me by phone rather than by email, there would > >> have been an option to have someone call you. Yesterday, I went to > >> this form, filled in my phone number and the nature of the problem, > >> all accessible, clicked call me, and 10 seconds later, my phone rang > >> and there was a person to help me. > >> You can't get much more accessible than that. > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > >> Behalf Of Craig Werner > >> Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 8:55 AM > >> To: [email protected] > >> Subject: Response from Amazon about Emailing Questions about Kindle > >> for iOS App > > >> Hello, everyone. > > >> A few users on this list have asked if there is an Amazon.com email > >> address to which to direct questions about the accessibility of the > >> Kindle for iOS app. In an effort to answer this question, I went to > >> the "Manage my Kindle" > >> page of my Amazon account and then clicked on "Kindle Support." I > >> then selected my iPhone device from a list of registered Kindle > >> devices. From there, one can choose "Contact Us" > >> and then choose email as the method of communication. Once there, the > >> user may elect to use either the standard form or one designed for > >> screen readers. In either case, the user is presented with some > >> combo-boxes which allow her or him to make choices which will direct > >> the question to the proper department. So far, so good. > > >> The trouble is that accessibility is not one of these choices. I > >> clicked on the "Other Questions" choice and asked if there was a > >> dedicated email address to which to send queries about accessibility. > >> Within the hour, I got a response that my message had been sent to the > >> product development team. From this reply, I gather that there is no > >> email address for accessibility. The representative went on to say > >> that if a user has a question, she or he can fill out the form using > >> any of the combo-box choices, and Amazon will do its best to direct > >> the question to the proper department. The representative also > >> suggested that I download Michael Iams's guide to VoiceOver on the > >> Kindle for iOS app, using the link > > >>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CL5NIGU > > >> This guide is a decent summary, but if one knows VoiceOver gestures > >> well, very little in the way of new information can be gleaned from > >> this little book. > > >> Craig > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. 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