Amazon has joined a growing number of large media companies who are porting their iPad and iPhone applications from the Apple App Store to the web using touchscreen-friendly HTML5 technology in order to circumnavigate Apple’s “greedy” fees and tough new rules.
Amazon’s newly launched web-based Kindle Cloud Reader mimics the functionality of its iPad app while freeing the company from the constraints various application stores place on developers and their apps.
“We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser. The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you're using - from Chrome to iOS,” said Dorothy Nicholls, Director, Amazon Kindle.
Amazon is not alone in sidestepping Apple’s new App Store policies - policies that attempt to make developers hand over a 30 percent cut of any content (such as books) they sell within their app.
The Financial Times and Walmart’s online movie streaming service Vudu both announced the launch of brand new web apps on August 9.
“More publishers and developers will follow, who don't want to give money to Apple or simply don't want to worry about Apple's rules,” noted web blog internet2go.net.
The Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader is available for Safari on iPad, Safari on desktop and on Chrome by visiting http://www.amazon.com/cloudreader.
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