kindle Store鍵又回來了
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????史蒂夫?喬布斯把去年2月認識的出版界朋友都得罪光了。 ????去年年初，喬布斯親身飛赴紐約，向書籍和雜志出版商展示iPad作為閱讀設備的神奇之處。【點擊閱讀《戴禮帽的喬布斯和他的iPad》（Enter Steve Jobs with top hat and iPad）】一年后他宣布了蘋果應用商店的訂閱規則，稱這個規則會讓讀者“很欣慰”，不過蘋果的合作伙伴卻認為這些規則過于苛刻。 ????如果用戶通過蘋果應用商店訂閱了書籍或雜志，那么蘋果（Google）將收取30%的分成，出版業本來就是一個利潤比紙薄的行業，這么高的分成讓出版業很難承受。不僅如此，蘋果還禁止應用程序中出現外部鏈接，以免用戶在蘋果應用商店以外進行訂閱。 ????受蘋果新規則影響最深的當屬在線圖書銷售巨頭亞馬遜（Amazon）。亞馬遜的Kindle應用是iPad早期最成功的應用之一。事實上，在iPad剛剛問世那一陣，很多人之所以購買了iPad，其中一個主要的原因就是它搭載了這款Kindle應用。 ????上個月，亞馬遜采取權宜之計，重新在iPad版上推出了Kindle應用，不過取消了能讓用戶瀏覽和訂閱其它內容的Kindle Store鍵。 ????本周三亞馬遜又走得更遠：該公司宣布推出Kindle云端閱讀器，這是一款新的網頁型應用，它幾乎涵蓋了原iPad版Kindle應用的所有功能——也包括了那個缺失的kindle Store鍵。但這次它不用再付給喬布斯30%的分成了。它在普通電腦（需使用Chrome瀏覽器）和蘋果的Mac電腦上都可使用，尤其在iPad上運行得特別好。 ????這款應用完全是在HTML5的基礎上編寫的，Kindle的云端閱讀器證明哪怕離開蘋果的應用商店，也照樣能留住顧客。不過還有多少內容提供商會像亞馬遜一樣，從蘋果應用商店“憤而出走”呢？很多人拭目以待。 ????現在只需登陸www.amazon.com/cloudreader，便可免費體驗Kindle的云端閱讀器 ????譯者；樸成奎 |
????Steve Jobs made no friends on Publishers Row last February. ????After flying to New York City in early 2010 to sell book and magazine publishers on the wonders of the iPad as a reading device (see Enter Steve Jobs with top hat and iPad), he announced subscription rules a year later that he said would "delight" readers but were widely viewed by Apple's partners as draconian (see Steve Jobs to pubs: Our way or highway). ????Not only would Apple (AAPL) take a 30% cut of every title sold through the App Store -- a cut that an industry built on paper-thin margins could ill afford -- but apps with a link that took readers out of the App Store would no longer be approved. ????The most prominent company affected by Apple's new rules was Amazon (AMZN), the giant bookseller whose Kindle app was one of the iPad's first runaway hits. In fact, for many early adopters, the Kindle app was one of the primary reasons to buy an iPad. ????Last month, Amazon made a temporary fix: It reissued Kindle for the iPad without the Kindle Store button that made browsing and buying new titles a one-click proposition. (See here.) ????On Wednesday, it went one-step further: It announced the release of the Kindle Cloud Reader, a new Web-based app that provides virtually all the functions of the original iPad app -- including that missing Kindle Store button -- without having to pay Steve Jobs' 30% toll. It works on Macs and PCs (using the Chrome browser), but it runs particularly well on the iPad. ????Written from the ground up in HTML5, the Kindle Cloud Reader proves that it's possible to leave the App Store without leaving customers behind. It will be interesting to see how many other content providers follow Amazon's lead. ????The Kindle Cloud Reader is available for free here: www.amazon.com/cloudreader |
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