The Kindle Cloud Reader vs. the Apple App Store

Amazon's new web-based app allows users to buy and read Kindle e-books on their iPads — without giving a dime to Apple

Amazon steps on Apple's monopolized territory with a web-based app that allows kindle readers to purchase e-books without going through iTunes.
(Image credit: CC BY: Zhao !)

The Jeff Bezos-Steve Jobs feud is heating up. In late July, Apple removed the "buy" button from the Kindle app for iPads and iPhones. The button had redirected users to a website where they could make Kindle purchases outside of Apple's control, and without Amazon having to share 30 percent of its revenue with Apple. On Wednesday, Amazon jabbed back at Apple with the release of the new Kindle Cloud Reader, a web-based app that allows iPad users to purchase and read Kindle e-books in their Safari or Chrome browser — outside of Apple's tight control. Will web-based apps like this one, and Walmart's Vudu, which was also released Wednesday, spell the end of Apple's App Store dominance?

This is a big challenge to Apple: This will "be remembered as a turning point for Apple, when... the beginnings of a developer revolt broke iOS mobile apps dominance," says Joe Wilcox at BetaNews. Apple's success with the iPhone and iPad is largely due to the tech giant's app monopoly. Now, web-based apps like Amazon's offer consumers and developers an alternative to the App Store and Apple's controlling, 30-percent-commission grabbing ways. It's a welcome "F you" to Apple, and I'm eager to use more of these industry-changing, web-based apps.

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