Amazon launches Kindle Cloud Reader to bypass Apple’s App Store restrictions

Amazon today, Wednesday, unveiled the Kindle Cloud Reader, an HTML5-based version of their Kindle book reader app that works on Chrome for Mac, Windows and Chrome OS, and on Safari for Mac, Windows and most notably the iPad.

Amazon already offer Kindle apps on a wide variety of platforms, including the physical Kindle reader device, on iOS devices, Android, Mac, Windows and Blackberry. All Kindle apps synchronise to your Kindle library so reading can be continued across a plethora of platforms.

Apple’s recently revised in-app subscription policy had forced Amazon to exclude any “buy” buttons from their native iOS app, and exclusively process purchases outside of this environment to prevent Apple from retaining 30% of sales revenue.

The new Kindle Cloud Reader however gets around this Apple issue. It gives readers instant access to 950,000 Kindle books directly in their web browser without the need to download or install anything. Built using some advanced HTML5 techniques the app automatically stores the current book locally for offline reading, as well as giving the option to save others for later reading too.

The app isn’t compatible yet with the iPhone, or rather interestingly with Android Honeycomb tablets either. We’ve included some screenshots of the Kindle Cloud Reader on the iPad below,