Amazon launches Kindle Cloud Reader

Amazon today launched a Web-based Kindle reading app that works on Google's Chrome browser and Apple's Safari browser.

Kindle Cloud Reader uses the HTML5 web standard to let you read books from your Kindle library both online or offline. In its announcement, Amazon says no installation is required. But in trying out the reader on Chrome, I did have to click a few times in a process that basically lets it show up as an app.

It's quite a slick and pretty app at that: Your entire Kindle library shows up on a virtual bookshelf. There are two buttons -- one for Web-based "cloud" reading and one for offline reading.

The reader automatically downloads the books you've read most recently. I'd purchased Tina Fey's Bossypants earlier this summer so I tried it out in Chrome. After clicking on it once in the "cloud" section it appeared very quickly as an offline selection as well.

The process is similar when reading via Safari on Apple's iPad tablet. When you use it for the first time, you must grant permission for the reader to use up to 50MB of space.

CNET and others this morning note that Kindle Cloud Reader is in part a response to Apple's recent App store change requiring publishers and book sellers to strip out links to their own stores or other means of selling their own products.

As CNET notes: "The Kindle Cloud Reader has a link to the Kindle Store, something that's now missing from the Kindle apps for iPad and iPhone."

You can download the reader at www.amazon.com/cloudreader

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET:

Wal-Mart seems to be taking a similar approach in bypassing Apple's selling restrictions. The company today started to stream video from its Vudu service to the iPad's Web browser, the Associated Press reports.

At issue are the fees Apple charges for selling through iTunes, where it gets a 30 percent cut.

From the AP story:

Wal-Mart's Vudu site relies on streaming video, so it does not work without an Internet connection. The site already works with PC browsers, but the Flash technology used doesn't work on the iPad. Instead, Vudu is using "Live Streaming" tools from Apple to reach the tablet.

Vudu.com's business model is similar to Apple's own iTunes. It rents out movies for $1 to $6 for a 24-hour or 48-hour viewing period. It also sells them for $5 and up, which allows viewing any time. Its claim to fame is that it has many movies on the same day they're released on DVD.