Interesting report. It's a bit off-topic but I think at least with the AppStore Apple failed to separate bug-fixes (minor) updates from major ones - creating the feeling that updates should be kept to a minimum.
Regarding your backend, are you using any type of CI?
We haven't tested Azure Cloud Storage. However, we did test other cloud computing hosts such as GoGrid and Rackspace. Their upload speeds were almost the same and sometimes even better than EC2 when uploading to AWS S3. Perhaps we will test Azure in a follow-up post.
I believe that educating young people using ebooks is extremely useful. Just ask my 6 years old niece, if you can get her attention while she's using my iPad. Trust me, it's hard. Getting more educational stuff to technology is the way to go. In a few decades it's all what we'll have.
Regarding your backend, are you using any type of CI?