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An Amazon spokeswoman said via an e-mail to Computerworld late Monday that the new Kindle for the Web will "enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books."

The spokeswoman didn't elaborate. The Kindle for the Web concept first surfaced in September and the Tuesday announcement could be a "natural evolution" of Amazon's e-book strategy, said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Gartner.

Amazon first launched Kindle for the Web as a beta application in September to allow customers to discover new books by sampling first chapters of the books directly through Web browsers without the need for a software download. Based on the spokeswoman's statement on Monday, the new version would allow book purchases of Kindle books through various Web sites offering them. It also would also allow reading of the full book, not just samples.