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Amazon skirts Apple policies with browser-based Kindle Store for iPad

January 11, 2012 — 11:25am ET | By Jason Ankeny

Consumers access the touch-optimized Kindle Store for iPad via the device's Safari browser--the storefront gives users the choice to begin reading e-books within the browser environment using the Kindle Cloud Reader solution or to leverage the Kindle for iPad application. Amazon adds iPad owners can add the Kindle Store to the tablet's home screen to simplify access.

Amazon.com first unveiled Kindle Cloud Reader in August 2011. The HTML5-based e-reader application enables consumers to read digital books instantly via the web browser, with no software download or installation required. Optimized for Safari on iPad and Mac desktop units as well as Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Chrome browser, Kindle Cloud Reader supports both online and offline e-book access--the solution automatically synchronizes the user's Kindle library as well as last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights.

Kindle Cloud Reader for iPad arrived less than a month after both Amazon.com and rival bookseller Barnes & Noble removed e-book purchase options from applications optimized for Apple's iOS mobile operating system. The moves were prompted by Apple's App Store subscription guidelines prohibiting content providers from integrating in-app purchase mechanisms linking consumers directly to their own websites. Amazon's Kindle app and Barnes & Noble's Nook for iPhone no longer include "buy" buttons--in order to purchase new e-book titles, consumers must now access the iPhone or iPad's browser to visit the booksellers' respective websites, a far more cumbersome and confusing process than direct in-app downloads.

Apple introduced the App Store subscription platform in February of last year. Publishers immediately expressed serious reservations over the terms of the service, which awards Apple 30 percent of subscription revenues, as well as ownership of consumer data like names and email addresses. Some smaller developers even scrapped their iOS application plans. Apple quietly updated the guidelines in June, removing all pricing guidelines and giving content providers the freedom to offer in-app subscriptions at any price they wish.

Amazon's Kindle Store offers more than a million e-books, including the overwhelming majority of current New York Times bestsellers. As of 2011, Amazon sells more Kindle books than hardcover and softcover volumes combined.

For more:
- read this PCMag.com article