Walmart's VUDU streaming video service goes web app for iPad

Add Walmart's VUDU streaming video service to the growing list of content companies creating HTML5 web apps for iPad to neatly step around Apple's revenue sharing requirements.

Beginning today, iPad users can go to VUDU.com and browse through VUDU's entertainment content library, which includes more than 20,000 blockbusters, Hollywood classics, independent films and TV episodes, then rent or purchase and watch them instantly. For one touch access to VUDU, customers can add a VUDU icon to their iPad desktops by clicking the "Add to Home Screen" button when on VUDU.com.

No word yet on whether or not it works with AirPlay, and as our commenters repeatedly -- and rightly -- point out, if you do "Add to Home Screen" you don't get multitasking background support, so it's not yet an ideal solution.

Still, Apple and Steve Jobs have repeatedly said that HTML5 is iOS' second great development platform. Nice to see more and more companies calling them on it.

Will you do the VUDU that you do over web app for iPad?

[VUDU.com]

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.