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Amazon Launches a Web-Based iPad Kindle Reader
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This is awesome. Works nice on Google chrome, opened up right at the page I was reading on my iphone.
The more "apps" that don't have to pander to Apple's rules the better. Hail the free and open web.
The more "apps" that don't have to pander to Apple's rules the better. Hail the free and open web.
Consumer choice isn't bad is it? If you prefer the native app, use it, others may prefer this.
If Safari is crashing, that's Safari's problem.
A web page should never be able to crash a browser.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
Not only that, it will work with pretty much any device that has a web browser. Maybe not as well on all devices as the iPad-optimized version, but a lot broader compatibility than trying to code separate apps for each platform
Westside guy said:
Not only that, it will work with pretty much any device that has a web browser. Maybe not as well on all devices as the iPad-optimized version, but a lot broader compatibility than trying to code separate apps for each platform
Perhaps more intriguing is the kindleair.com registered by Amazon recently...
After all what would be in the air but a 'Cloud' reader...
New Kindle/Tablet perhaps?
After all what would be in the air but a 'Cloud' reader...
New Kindle/Tablet perhaps?
A lot of the scrap on the iOS app store would be much better done as web apps. Much more universal, much less of a pain to develop for the developers and also would help with the crowding in the app store.
Let's face it, many of the apps are just document viewers or smallish databases. The problem is with the "gold rush", everyone went native, destroying basically 10 years of moving stuff to the Web where it fit gracefully. The 80s and 90s was where boxed software was the rage, where you had to install it locally. The late 90s brought us rich web applications where server-side dynamically generated HTML technologies the likes of J2EE and other, simpler stacks.
HTML5 solves a lot of the issues we had client side (offline storage, richer UIs) and moving forward, a lot of apps just make sense as webapps.
Let's face it, many of the apps are just document viewers or smallish databases. The problem is with the "gold rush", everyone went native, destroying basically 10 years of moving stuff to the Web where it fit gracefully. The 80s and 90s was where boxed software was the rage, where you had to install it locally. The late 90s brought us rich web applications where server-side dynamically generated HTML technologies the likes of J2EE and other, simpler stacks.
HTML5 solves a lot of the issues we had client side (offline storage, richer UIs) and moving forward, a lot of apps just make sense as webapps.
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That's wrong-headed thinking.
Apple have always supported Web apps. Web apps came before the app store.
Mobile Safari can offer web apps iOS like user interface elements, local storage and you can even install the app into an icon just like a native app.
There are two platforms on iOS. Web Apps and Cocoa touch.
Web apps will always be free and open, Cocoa Touch apps have more power and developers are required to share revenue. You takes your pick and you pays your money.
Apple don't block or prevent functionality for Web Apps, they have bent over backwards to make web apps more useful than on other platforms.
C.
The same was stated for email clients and today I consider gmail much better than many "native" email applications. There is a lot of interest in web applications in general and technology has already shown many times than "never" can happen pretty quickly with the right push from the industry.
Except when they made Web Apps render using a slower version of Safari if launched from the homescreen!
And somehow I think "webOS" might be geared more towards web apps if you're mentioning other platforms...
You can bet that once they see how much money they'll lose, suddenly HTML5 isnt so magic afterall.
This is one area where Apple screwed the pooch, and made it more difficult for its users to fully utilize their products. The 30% take is quite unreal. As a Kindle owner - I use iBooks and the Nook app, as well - I'm glad to see Amazon creatively take the bull by the horns.
I'm hoping Apple also has web-based apps for iBooks available for the Amazon tablet.
I'm hoping Apple also has web-based apps for iBooks available for the Amazon tablet.
What makes you say so ? WebOS is just a marketing name. It really has nothing to do with the web. It just happens to use HTML and Javascript for their native application frameworks (though you can also use C++), but that doesn't mean the applications are served over the HTTP protocol.
While I have no doubt WebOS has an excellent browser (also based on Webkit, like Android's, iOS', Blackberry's and most other portable platform), it still has a native app SDK that people will use and abuse for simpler things that should simply be HTML5+CSS3 with a server side framework doing the grunt work.
Frankly, ChromeOS is more geared towards Web apps than any other platform, but that's part of the design really.
Read a bit around the web (or even here in MacRumors) and you will find that they WERE slower because of security restrictions (the Javascript engine could not compile to native code without violating some security assumptions; looks like that has already been fixed in iOS 5)
Yeah, and we all know how marketing names do mean the real deal, huh?
Meanwhile, Apple developed in the open a whole web browser / engine (WebKit, the basis of Safari, Chrome and others), and made efforts to make the standard web (HTML+Javascript, no plugins) work on mobile. Funny how now lots of smarties feel the need to convert that whole strategy arc into some "Oh snap! Look at what Amazon did" retort, when in fact it's just giving the intended fruit.
And, just for the irony: did you know that WebOS uses a WebKit-based browser?
Apple want's a cut of the sales for anything that works on their iOS devices, and I even understand why, they are a business whose sole purpose is to turn a profit. But when you get greedy and start restricting everything, people will find a way to circumvent those restrictions. It is very nice to see a company develop a legal method for customers to read their ebooks while circumventing Apple's IAP.
Good Job Amazon.
Good Job Amazon.
Since it's HTML5, it's a bit like Amazon beat Apple at their own game with this.
And it really does serve Apple right for the terms they enacted. It's also a good move should Apple decide to become even more anti-competitive with their App Store terms.
I love when people say this, you to realize there is no law that states Apple has to allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone/iPad. They do it because they make money.
VUDU has also went all web-based today with an HTML5 version, in order to avoid Apple's 30% cut:
http://www.slashgear.com/vudu-uses-...ce-to-avoid-sharing-loot-with-apple-10170770/
http://www.slashgear.com/vudu-uses-...ce-to-avoid-sharing-loot-with-apple-10170770/
I use Amazons Cloud Player all the time as a webapp on my ipad. I find that Amazon can out price many MP3s against iTunes, at least with the music I listen to, so I have a lot of music on their cloud. So far 56 albums/1136 songs. It's getting to be like the 16GB iPad isn't looking too bad, through I still prefer my 64GB and if Apple comes up with a higher GB version in the future....back to Web Apps, I have a folder on my iPad filed with them.
Odd I still can read books in m kindle app, didn't realize Apple was blocking that...