In the last two weeks, Amazon made two strategic moves that will have lasting effect on publishing media. One is an HTML5 application and the other an author signing. Why are these moves important? In releasing the Kindle Cloud application for the web and the iPad, Amazon does the runaround on Apple’s policy of taking 30% of every in-app purchase made from a application downloaded from their store.
Here’s a little background. Earlier this year, Apple rolled out a new rule where apps could not provide a web link inside the app to their respective stores to make purchases. All purchases needed to be made within the app so that Apple could collect 30% of the revenue. Amazon complied by removing the “Kindle Store” button from the iPhone app basically downgrading the app to a read-only tool.
Amazon then looked to HTML5 to tackle this issue. This new web mark-up language has the capability to deliver interactive experiences across browser-bearing devices seamlessly. To load the app go to: https://read.amazon.com/about using the Chrome/Safari browser on your desktop and/or iPad and follow the instructions. For the iPad, save the icon to the home screen and it looks and acts like a regular app!
That same week, Wal-Mart released their video service VUDU with an HTML5 app, again avoiding Apple’s 30% in-app revenue sharing policy. I believe we’ll be seeing a lot of HTML5 apps in the future.
In another story this past week, the newish entity Amazon Publishing signed supergeek self-help guru, Timothy Ferriss to an exclusive publishing deal. Ferriss is the author of the life-hacking books, 4-Hour Work Week and 4-Hour Body. Ferriss, a regular at SXSW Interactive, seems the natural for this vertical busting move. Basically, Amazon is side-stepping traditional publishing once again.
In the next decade, will it be Amazon rather than Apple ruling the roost?
Resources:
Hands on with Kindle Cloud Reader for iPad
http://gigaom.com/apple/hands-on-with-kindle-cloud-reader-for-ipad/
Vudu For iPad Hands-On Walkthrough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YnkDBX5XrU&feature=related
Amazon Set to Publish Pop Author
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/technology/amazon-set-to-publish-tim-ferriss.html