Amazon has quietly released the Kindle Cloud Reader into the wide-world-web - a HTML5-based app that is optimised for Chrome and Safari desktop browsers and, more intriguingly, optimised for Safari on the iPad too.

If you remember, Amazon recently had to alter its native iOS Kindle iPad app in response to Apple's new terms that all in-app purchases would be subject to the same conditions as App Store purchases: i.e. a revenue split.

This saw Amazon removing the Kindle Store link from the app - although this link does appear on the new Kindle Cloud Reader, along with all the usual Kindle goodies such as your library and in-book options for text sizes, colours and note taking.

There's no iPhone version yet, but Amazon does state that support for additional browsers is coming soon.

The move comes as US movie-on-demand giant Vudu has also announced that its new tablet-based app is of the HTML5 variety, rather than an iOS-flavoured one.

An iPad optimised version of Vudu.com has gone live meaning more than "20,000 blockbusters, Hollywood classics and independent films" for film-fans and also, crucially, nil-points for Apple.

With Facebook also looking to take on Apple with its own HTML5 app store, it seems that Apple's browser darling, Safari, could turn out to be quite a problem child.

You can access the Kindle Cloud Reader at read.amazon.com.