Amazon.com has purchased Lexcycle, developer of the iPhone book-reading application Stanza. Stanza allows users to read e-books on their iPhone or iPod touch in the “epub” format, which is an open standard supported by the International Digital Publishing Forum that many publishers use to create e-book files.
Amazon’s Kindle device doesn’t currently support “epub” files; nor does its Kindle for iPhone app let users download content from within the application, a feature Stanza offers. According to a post on Lexcycle’s blog, the company is “not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition,” adding that they are “excited to join forces with a company that has innovated on behalf of readers for over a decade and is a pioneer in ebooks.
Like Amazon, we believe there is a lot of innovation ahead for ebooks and we could not think of a better company to join during this exciting time.”
.
