Quote:
Originally Posted by mldavis2
Perhaps. But what is the advantage of being tied to an active, online wifi or 3G signal when I can read it offline and turn wifi/3G off and extend battery charge life? One of the big advantages of the eInk screens is that they will run for weeks on a charge. With wifi turned ON, that length is cut roughly in half.
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Great comment.
With this move, Amazon can accomplish some of these ...
-Move or motivate more people towards Amazon ebooks (buying)
-Ability to read on almost any hardware (all computers have a browser)
-Allowing iPad users to buy directly from the app.
Remember, Amazon is actually a retailer. They make money selling books. The easiest that is for someone to click and buy a book, the better for Amazon and bigger their revenue. Make it "fool proof" to buy a book, as easy as possible, that's how all this instant gratification and ebook fever started
This will also boost the synergy between devices: PC, Mac, Kindle, iPad, etc. You can read Apple books on iPads and Apple devices, but you cannot on a regular PC, as far as I know. Better yet, ability to sync, remember pages.
The browser is probably the most common interface and software we do have in the IT world. All operating system with GUI has one. Making an application available via browser removes the hassle of having to download and install software locally.
This is a "right hook" against Apple and their silly rule of removing the "purchase button" from Kindle for iOs.
Regarding turning wifi off, most iPad users don't. Unless you are on a limited 3G plan or don't have a wifi only iPad, people opt for keeping wifi on and battery life won't change too much. The same goes for netbooks. If you have a netbook, you don't usually turn wifi on and off to save battery, people usually keep it on.