Amazon, Walmart sidestep Apple iTunes shop

Kindle king Amazon.com and retail colossus Walmart sidestepped Apple's online iTunes shop Wednesday and its cut of sales made in applications. Amazon.com unveiled a Kindle Cloud Reader that lets people access digital books using Apple Safari or Google Chrome web browsing software instead of downloaded applications. "We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser," said Amazon Kindle director Dorothy Nicholls."The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you're using -- from Chrome to iOS," she continued.Cloud Reader lets people get Kindle e-books on iPads without having to go through iTunes, which enables Apple to take a 30-percent share of transactions.Amazon planned to tailor versions of Cloud Reader software for Internet Explorer, Firefox and BlackBerry PlayBook web browsing programs. Walmart, meanwhile, released new software for streaming video from its VUDU on-demand film service to browsers on iPad tablet computers, also avoiding selling digital content through Apple's iTunes shop.IPad users can rent or buy movies from the vast VUDU.com library for viewing on iPads using the rich graphics capabilities of HTML5 in Web browsers.VUDU is available on more than 300 consumer electronics devices, including Internet-capable HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and videogame consoles. "We're committed to offering the VUDU experience on as many devices as possible," said VUDU general manager Edward Lichty.