Step One: Kindle Cloud Reader, Step Two: Ubiquity

When Apple changed their in-app purchase policy, forcing ebooks vendors to remove their integrated stores, Amazon quietly began developing a web-based Kindle reader to bypass the restrictive new rules. Their solution to Apple's understandable efforts to restrict competition is the Kindle Cloud Reader.

The Kindle Cloud Reader grants you the ability to access your Kindle library from the Ipad, as well as a couple PC browsers like Chrome and Safari. You can peruse your library, download a limited number of books for offline viewing, and shop for new reading material, all in one intergrated HTML5 web app.

Early reviews across the web are positive, with a lot of readers giving Amazon a thumbs up, not only for the pleasant new Kindle reading experience, but for their cleverness in sidestepping Apple's efforts at suppressing competition with their own ibookstore.

However, I have a feeling the ramifications of this new wrinkle in the unfolding ebook saga are going to turn out to be much larger than some might realize. Most dedicated ebook readers have some type of web browser functionality. How long will it be before we see the Kindle Cloud Reader optimized for Android, the Nook Color's web browser, and smart phones?

By creating a web based reader, Amazon has basically set the stage for ubiquity. Pretty soon, I imagine we'll see the Kindle Cloud Reader app being optimized for nearly every device imaginable, from cheap Android tablets to the Sony Reader's web browser. After all, how hard can it be to tweek a simple thing like display size now that the underlying programming is finished?  And I'm sure we'll see all the other ebook vendors follow suit. Kobo, in fact, has already announced theirs.

Click the link below to visit Amazon's new Kindle Cloud Reader... and be sure to purchase one of my books (or all of them) to read on your fancy new cloud service!

Kindle Cloud Reader