Amazon Buys Maker Of Ebook App For Iphone
28 Avril 2009 - 12:21AM
Dow Jones News
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)-Ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
has acquired a small startup that makes a free e-book application
for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) popular iPhone.
The acquisition, which Lexcycle Inc. announced Monday on its
blog, appears to be an attempt by Amazon to strengthen its presence
across an array of mobile platforms beyond its Kindle ebook
reader.
Lexcycle's Stanza application enables iPhone users to download
content from a selection of over 100,000 books and periodicals in
ePub format, an open standard for e-books that Amazon's Kindle
currently does not support.
"It's very early days for ebooks and we believe there is a lot
of innovation ahead of us," said an Amazon spokeswoman. "Lexcycle
is a smart, innovative company and we look forward to working with
them to innovate on behalf of readers."
It was not clear how much Amazon paid for Lexcycle, a year-old
company with offices in Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon. The
company said more than one million iPhone and iPod Touch users had
downloaded Stanza at the end of 2008.
Shares in Amazon closed down 1.6% at $83.12.
Amazon last week said Kindle sales continued to exceed
expectations, but the Seattle, Wash.-based company once again
declined to provide specific sales figures.
The e-commerce giant offers more than 270,000 books, as well as
top newspapers and magazines, for sale on its Web site. The company
last quarter also launched a free application that allows customers
to enjoy Kindle titles on the iPhone and iPod touch.
"We are not planning any changes in the Stanza 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," said an entry on Lexcycle's blog.
-By Scott Morrison; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118;
scott.morrison@dowjones.com