Amazon snaps up iPhone e-book reader app Stanza
(Credit:
Lexcycle)
Maybe Steve Jobs doesn't think there's a market for e-books on the iPhone, but Amazon seems to. On Monday, it acquired Lexcycle, the company that developed the popular Stanza iPhone and iPod Touch e-book reader application, for an undisclosed sum.
At first glance, it's unclear exactly why Amazon would buy Lexcycle when it has its own successful Kindle iPhone e-book reader application. But it appears to be hedging its bets by picking up what it thinks is "an innovative company" that works across multiple mobile platforms.
Clearly, Amazon is looking beyond the Kindle 2 and salivating over the 37 million iPhone and iPod Touch devices already in the market, as well as the upcoming Palm Pre, Google's Android phones, and future Windows Mobile phones. There's also talk of a rumored oversize iPod Touch that's due out later this year that would make for a potentially intriguing e-book reader. Plus, the Stanza reader supports the ePub format, which is quickly becoming the standard for e-books outside the proprietary format that Amazon uses for the Kindle.
As we've come to expect from Amazon, it was a bit coy in its remarks to The New York Times' Bits blog. Cinthia Portugal, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said, "It's very early days for e-books, and we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead of us. Lexcycle is a smart, innovative company, and we look forward to working with them to innovate on behalf of readers."
In announcing the deal on its blog, Lexcycle assured Stanza devotees that it wouldn't be making any changes to the application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. "Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from our many content partners," the post said. "We look forward to offering future products and services that we hope will resonate with our passionate readers."
What do you think? Smart move by Amazon? Was it a good time for Lexcycle to sell?
As always, feel free to comment.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
books on both my Kindle and my I-phone.
I used to be one of those people claiming that Kindle wouldn't last but now I think
it's going to be a mammoth giant crushing everything in its path.
I sure as heck can't do without my Jackie Christian sex novels. Especially having
the FEMALE VOICE of Kindle read them back to me, which is why I think the
actual Kindle is superior to the I-phone, but I got both.
Buying a viable alternative to Amazon's own problem-fraught and insufficiently developed product which was rushed to market before being truly refined, simply to make profit.
Stanza was always going to be a better system, and all Amazon has done to to buy the opposition so as to kill it off while it is young. This will enable Amazon's inferior product to gain better market share, even if (as I truly suspect to be the case) Amazon makes no use whatsoever of Stanza technology but has simply purchased ti to prevent it evolving further.
Amazon has NEVER been a company to put properly developed product into the marketplace, when insufficiently developed product can mean a quick profit, early-on.
Amazon ALWAYS puts quick profit ahead of proper product development.
Amen
Amazon pays 30% royalties to publishers of content on the Kindle, while Apple pays 70%. Why will publishers publish with Amazon through the kindle store or now the Stanza store if then can get another 40% by doing the same with the app store which provides seamless solution for publishing?
This move might be a preemptive strike that temporarily closes the door on this problem. The keyword being temporarily. Others will emerge to take a slice of that 40% difference!
Personally, the reason I like using the kindle over other devices is that the display is much easier on the eyes, so these iPhone readers don't do anything for me.
The mobipocket reader needs MS word installed to convert .doc files, but I get around that by opening them in open office and saving it as a PDF or text file and then converting that.
Cheers,
Erik John Bertel
floresgirl.com
While the camera looks at your eyes, and move the book page on the screen so it stays always in perfect view!
Give it a app for that? ;-)
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by iphoneapps
April 30, 2009 5:38 PM PDT
- The Toy Lounge of St. Paul MN - thetoylounge.com/ebooks - creates iPhone apps for eBooks, newspapers, magazines, children's books, radio stations and more. Now that Amazon owns both of the top eBook readers for the iPhone - Kindle and Stanza - it will be up to independent developers to come up with alternatives. The Toy Lounge has its own proprietary eBook reader for the iPhone in development with summer 2009 availablility.
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(19 Comments)Do you think Jeff Bezos will allow Stanza to stay independent AND free, or will Kindle absorb Stanza's technology and quietly go away?