史蒂夫•乔布斯把去年2月认识的出版界朋友都得罪光了。

    去年年初，乔布斯亲身飞赴纽约，向书籍和杂志出版商展示iPad作为阅读设备的神奇之处。【点击阅读《戴礼帽的乔布斯和他的iPad》（Enter Steve Jobs with top hat and iPad）】一年后他宣布了苹果应用商店的订阅规则，称这个规则会让读者“很欣慰”，不过苹果的合作伙伴却认为这些规则过于苛刻。

    如果用户通过苹果应用商店订阅了书籍或杂志，那么苹果（Google）将收取30%的分成，出版业本来就是一个利润比纸薄的行业，这么高的分成让出版业很难承受。不仅如此，苹果还禁止应用程序中出现外部链接，以免用户在苹果应用商店以外进行订阅。

    受苹果新规则影响最深的当属在线图书销售巨头亚马逊（Amazon）。亚马逊的Kindle应用是iPad早期最成功的应用之一。事实上，在iPad刚刚问世那一阵，很多人之所以购买了iPad，其中一个主要的原因就是它搭载了这款Kindle应用。

    上个月，亚马逊采取权宜之计，重新在iPad版上推出了Kindle应用，不过取消了能让用户浏览和订阅其它内容的Kindle Store键。

    本周三亚马逊又走得更远：该公司宣布推出Kindle云端阅读器，这是一款新的网页型应用，它几乎涵盖了原iPad版Kindle应用的所有功能——也包括了那个缺失的kindle Store键。但这次它不用再付给乔布斯30%的分成了。它在普通电脑（需使用Chrome浏览器）和苹果的Mac电脑上都可使用，尤其在iPad上运行得特别好。

    这款应用完全是在HTML5的基础上编写的，Kindle的云端阅读器证明哪怕离开苹果的应用商店，也照样能留住顾客。不过还有多少内容提供商会像亚马逊一样，从苹果应用商店“愤而出走”呢？很多人拭目以待。

    现在只需登陆www.amazon.com/cloudreader，便可免费体验Kindle的云端阅读器

    译者；朴成奎

    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