Amazon's Kindle Cloud Reader HTML5 app evades Apple's iOS rules

Kindle Cloud Reader HTML5

New web app launches today for iPad as well as Safari and Chrome desktop browsers.

Amazon is the latest company to launch an HTML5 web app as an alternative to a native mobile application. Kindle Cloud Reader goes live on Wednesday, and will enable iPad users to read their Kindle ebooks in the Safari browser rather than the native Kindle app.

The new site also works on the desktop, via the Safari and Chrome browsers. Support for Internet Explorer, Firefox and the BlackBerry PlayBook will follow later this year.

One of the new site's key features is the ability to store the user's latest book locally for offline reading. Amazon follows the Financial Times in launching an HTML5 web app for its flagship mobile service.

The motivation is likely to be similar too. An HTML5 site can quickly be converted to run on new devices – a help on fragmented platforms like Android, and also a way of mitigating the risk when supporting newer devices such as HP's TouchPad. However, the more immediate effect is to work outside Apple's App Store ecosystem, where there are now strict rules on subscribing to or paying for content without using the iOS in-app payments system.

Amazon recently removed the Kindle Store button in its iPhone and iPad apps to comply with Apple's new rules, even though users of those apps can still access ebooks bought from the store through other means. There are no such restrictions for an HTML5 web app, however.

Kindle Cloud Reader will synchronise users' libraries, enabling them to pick up reading where they left off on another device, while accessing their bookmarks and notes.

"We are excited to take this leap forward in our 'Buy Once, Read Everywhere' mission and help customers access their library instantly from anywhere," said Amazon Kindle director Dorothy Nicholls.

"We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser. The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you're using – from Chrome to iOS. To make it easy and seamless to discover new books, we've added an integrated, touch-optimised store directly into Cloud Reader, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books."

Apple's new rules have nudged several companies into accelerating their HTML5 strategies. US video-on-demand service Vudu has just launched a web app for iPad, while the FT revealed last week that traffic to its HTML5 site is already outstripping its native apps for iOS.