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Amazon to acquire Comixology
- rdl 13y agoAmazon seems to be really good at acquisitions, sort of like 1990s Cisco, although in an entirely different way (Cisco integrated well; Amazon leaves them alone, but provides services). I'm much happier to see Amazon buy a company for product, as I then have even more confidence it will continue to operate, than virtually any other acquirer.
- sliverstorm 13y agoIn a past life I worked for a company that was acquired by Amazon. It was like what HBO talks about, how cable companies deal with infrastructure & advertising & distribution, letting HBO focus on making TV- As we were taken into the fold, exactly that sort of thing began to happen for us, as the mother ship shouldered infrastructure burdens & so forth.
- Andrex 13y agoAs long as their content doesn't become Kindle Fire exclusive, I don't mind this change.
- LaSombra 13y agoI agree. It's getting weird how many Kindle Fire exclusives applications are out there with no Android equivalents. UK newspapers come to mind.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- cwal37 13y agoI've used Comixology and Marvel Unlimited before. Marvel Unlimited is a travesty on Android tablets, which is really unfortunate, because a subscription service like that is probably the only way I will consistently read comics. Comixology's app is certainly better, but it's tough to shell out the money for something I could be done reading 5-10 minutes later. It'd be nice if they could get together a subscription service like Netflix, but for the smaller publishing houses like Image, since DC and Marvel will obviously go their own way.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago>> "it's tough to shell out the money for something I could be done reading 5-10 minutes later." Haven't comic book readers done this for decades? I'm not big into comics but I was under the impression they are the sort of thing people read again (i.e. people don't just read once and delete).
- cwal37 13y agoI'm peculiar because I didn't really grow up reading comics, but was introduced to them near the end of high school. I was already a voracious reader as I had grown up constantly ensconced in books (my parents' house has a library), and I started with collections of old Marvel series, so like, the first 20-40 issues of Fantastic Four, or The Avengers, or whatever in single volume. I'd read 5 years of a series in a single night. I just enjoyed reading them. Even in the big superhero books today I find that I have to force myself to look at the art most of the time because I can almost get all my visual stimulation from text. This is less of the case in smaller, more interesting titles, but I still find myself speeding through, and I almost never re-read them.
- cruise02 13y agoYes, but before you had a collectible comic. The digital copies really don't have any secondary market value. That said, I love reading comics and I use Comixology heavily. I just usually wait until I can get about 50 issues of a title in one of their 99 cent sales and splurge for a good month's worth of reading.
- 2muchcoffeeman 13y agoI was reading comics during the 90s collectable craze. It was all speculation and ultimately hurt the comic industry. So I think devaluing the physical comic is a good thing. I agree with getting huge chunks of a series though. But that doesn't always work since Marvel and DC are still big on story arcs that cross over several titles. Following a single title often leads to incomplete stories.
- dantiberian 13y agoIt's surprising that Marvel and DC didn't purchase Comixology to prevent this from happening. We've seen what Amazon did to book publishers, I don't see any reason to believe they won't do the same to comic book publishers. On the other hand, perhaps lower pricing/subscription services is just what the comic book industry needs to get more people reading comics.
- sliverstorm 13y agoThat's pretty much my guess, Marvel & DC might be hoping there is growth potential.
- dantiberian 13y agoBut surely they would want to be the ones in control of this?
- sliverstorm 13y agoNot saying they wouldn't love to be the ones in control, but it could be just one more reason they elect not to get in a bidding war with Amazon, and hope for the best.
- rverghes 13y agoThe price of this might be the destruction of comic book stores. It's often hard for companies to bypass retailers, because the retailers will get mad at them, and the retailers are the majority of their (direct) customers. This way, Amazon does Marvel/DCs dirty work, but Marvel/DC still gets paid.
- seubert 13y agoI think it will be a lot harder to cannibalize Marvel and DC's profit centers because of the value of the actual IP itself, as opposed to book publishers who don't have the kind of "brand" recognition and sway that a Batman or Spiderman has.
- bane 13y agoOn a similar note, I'd love it if there was some kind of media server for documents, pdfs, cbz, cbr files etc. that has an android/ios app and web app (like plex) to stream to. Anybody, know of anything like this?
- aidenn0 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPDS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPDS
- rat87 13y agoFBReader's Android version lets you add a local ODPS server manually or scan you local network for one. Calibre a fantastic ebook collection manager/reader/converter/sync lets you run a server.
- aidenn0 13y agoI've been using FBReader since PalmOS. I don't use a cbz reader for anything, so I don't know if there is a ODPS client that can read .cbz files (but ODPS is really straightforward, so if there is an OSS cbz reader it would be easy to add).
- rat87 13y agoI think Moon+ Reader(closed source ads/pro version ebook/comic book reader) supports ODPS and cbr/cbz files.
- zengr 13y agoMaybe this was a defensive move by Amazon as eBay was partnering with Comixology: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/05/ebay-pushes-into-curating-and-selling-digital-goods-launches-dedicated-marketplace-for-digital-comics/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/05/ebay-pushes-into-curating-a...
- shawnc 13y agoThis may be a weird reason to not be happy with this, but I pay for my subscriptions and purchases on Comixology with PayPal, and I'm pretty certain that will go away pretty soon now. I'd love to think that this will stay the same, but I see lots of changes happening from this, most not so great.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoI wouldn't be too worried about that. I remember when they acquired Audible they didn't change the payment system for a LONG time. I know because Audible wouldn't accept my debit card even after the acquisition yet Amazon would.
- chrisege 13y agoZappos has been owned by Amazon for years now, and they still accept Paypal.
- shawnc 13y agoThanks for the reminder. You're right. Well, if anything then, this could signal that 'owning my digital content that's really owned/held by Comixology' means it'll be around longer.
- crummy 13y agoIf they add the Comixology library to Prime subscribers, I would pay double!
- motdiem 13y agoI would go for adding "1 issue of your choice per week" as part of prime (a bit like the kindle lending library) - this would work great for occasional readers, and I could see this generating significant sales for people who binge-read
- bueno 13y agoI wonder if this opens up the possibility of a Comixology API similar to IMDB. My side project Longboxed.com could really benefit from a better datafeed.
- jordo37 13y agoLongboxed seems pretty neat! Where are you currently pulling that data from?
- moskie 13y agoThe biggest aspect to consider here is that Amazon already sells digital comics that are usable on Kindles and in Kindle apps. I don't imagine that feature going away, in the place of Amazon promoting the use a separate Comixology app. Which makes me inclined to believe that Comixology will be phased out, and its features incorporated into the Kindle comics features.
- jonlucc 13y agoWhy not the other direction? I think Comixology has a bigger backing, so they could merge their stuff to Comixology. This might be similar to how they run IMDB or Zappos.
- hrktb 13y agoI downloaded the Comixology app just to try. And I don't think the Comixology way of thinking for their app works for non american comics. Japanese comics can't be viewed bubble by bubble, that would be just a horrible experience, and there doesn't seem to be two-pages side by side display handling, or right to left page order option either. The Kindle handles this kind of things gracefully. BTW they really should have something free in their store or directly in the app, even an illustrated guide of how to use the app, just to give an idea of the experience. No one asks their users to buy 5~10$ content just to see if the app is comfortable to use.
- ndrake 13y agohttps://www.comixology.com/free-comics https://www.comixology.com/free-comics
- king_jester 13y agoThe app does support two page reading and right to left books, but it has a limited selection of those kinds of books.
- zmanian 13y agoIt is amazing that this company succeeded. One would have expected that the comic book store owners would have effectively resisted but DC wanted something in place for the iPad launch and it just started the ball rolling down hill. Haven't been to a comic book store since the Android app came out.
- jordo37 13y agoI think you are misunderstanding that most Comic Book Store Owners are also fans, and are always eager to get the most ways to access content out there. Also, Comixology (currently at least) has their Comics Retailer platform (ie https://isotope.comicretailer.com/ https://isotope.comicretailer.com/ for my shop in SF, Isotope) that allows these shops to make some (admittedly less) money per issue with no inventory, no pre-ordering and no liability for unsold comics.
- relaxatorium 13y agoThe people who are probably shitting right now are the local comic shops and Diamond Distributors. Comixology, whether due to temperament or just due to size and leverage, was playing fairly nice with the existing comics ecosystem. Now, they're owned by a middleman that makes Diamond look positively cute by comparison, and one with a fairly explicit goal of crushing all local shops of all types.
- MattGrommes 13y agoI came here to say just this. I wonder how long the cute distinction Comixology makes by splitting the digital and comic-shop sides of their website will last. There's also no reason Amazon doesn't just put Diamond out of business by putting one team on making a Previews-like ordering system.
- fernly 13y agoI'm using a laptop. Is there a significant difference in the reading experience between their "immersive and cinematic" one and just looking at, e.g., Questionable Content on Firefox? (I ask because I was going to try reading one of their free comics and they want me to "register" with email and date of birth and password and oh give it a rest for pete's sake...)