Amazon on Tuesday introduced a touch-optimized Kindle Store for iPad that will allow readers to purchase or read Kindle e-book selections via Safari.To access, navigate to amazon.com/iPadKindleStore via the iPad's Safari browser. You can then purchase a book via Kindle Cloud Reader and start reading immediately or open your choice with the Amazon Kindle app.
Amazon unveiled Kindle Cloud Reader, an HTML5-based reading app accessible via the Web, back in August. The feature is available via amazon.com/cloudreader and provides access to e-books through the browser, offline and online, with no downloading or installation required. Cloud Reader automatically syncs with other Kindle apps, allowing you to start reading on the Web and pick up on an iPhone or Kindle, for example. Books that you are reading are automatically made available for offline use.
It was initially released for Safari and Chrome, but support for Firefox was later added. Today's release creates a special page aimed at iPad users, and appears to be a way to target Apple rather than any particularly new technology.
Amazon went the HTML5 route after Apple implemented new policies that resulted in Cupertino taking a 30 percent cut of revenue that all publishers earned from e-book purchases. If you bought The Help via the Amazon Kindle iPhone app, for example, Amazon would have to hand over 30 percent of the purchase price to Apple. To avoid those fees, Amazon and rivals like Barnes & Noble stopped selling books via their iOS apps, opting instead to sell via the browser, though book purchases still synced to the app.
Apple would, of course, prefer that you use its own e-book store, iBooks. That app still supports in-app purchases and also syncs across devices.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
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