Kindle Cloud Reader Opens Up Options for Linux and iPad Users

You have to hand it to Amazon. While many people questioned the company's Kindle strategy and whether it could properly manage a hardware platform, Amazon now claims that it sells more books for the Kindle than it does standard, paper-based books. Until now, though, users of Linux, Chrome OS, and various Linux-based platforms have had no easy option for using the Kindle. This week, Amazon announced its Kindle Cloud Reader platform, including an HTML 5 app that manages a library of Kindle books in the cloud and even allows you to continue reading when you have no Internet connection. One benefit of this platform is that anyone using Linux, Chrome OS or any other Linux derivative can use the Kindle and manage a Kindle library.

The Kindle Cloud Reader page is found here. Amazon has chosen the motto "Buy once, read everywhere" for the service. You can use the service with Chrome or Safari, which means Linux and Chrome OS users can jump right in. Amazon should support other browsers, though.

As BetaNews points out, the iPad is one of the reasons this cloud platform is important to Amazon:

"Amazon's Kindle eReader app for iOS, for example, could open Kindle books and sync with a user's library, but to buy more content, users had to navigate away from the app and purchase books and magazines in Safari for iOS... So Kindle Cloud Reader has actually been designed specifically to shine on the iPad, with an interface optimized for the popular tablet's screen size and touch interface to streamline the reading experience, but more importantly, to streamline the e-book buying experience."

Make no mistake, the iPad is platform phenomenon. While Amazon sells lots of Kindles, what the company really wants to do is sell lots of eBooks for the Kindle platform, and that means its important for Kindle libraries to make it to the iPad. If you use Linux and the iPad, and have been wanting an easy way to manage a Kindle library with them, check out Kindle Cloud Reader.