Could this be the start of an online paradigm shift?
IDW Publishing announced this week of the creation of their very own storefront app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, in conjunction with iVerse Media. iVerse has helped translate a lot of comics to the iPhone, including Atomic Robo, Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer, Neozoic, Proof, and, of course, IDW’s Star Trek: Countdown, which came out in conjunction with the hit J.J. Abrams film.
“We’ve spent the past several months building and refining these apps and creating a large catalog that includes both classic series and fresh stories,” Jeff Webber, IDW’s ePublishing Director, said in a statement. “IDW has one of the most diverse collections in comics, and it now fits in your pocket!”
The app, called IDW Comics, currently holds 10 free comics, with more than 200 comics available for purchase. The company says the site will be regularly updated with new releases. Currently, they have books up as recent as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box, which only came out about three weeks ago.
For me, IDW — the first company to have their own storefront app — has a fairly interesting idea. While larger cities with numerous comic shops have greater flexibility in terms of getting their comics out, those in smaller towns have their own sets of difficulties: understaffed shops, delayed availability of books, and sometimes an enormous distance between stores. With companies like iVerse and comiXology beginning to trickle books to iPhones — albeit at a decent delay — and digital download programs such as Longbox on the horizon, could simultaneous print and online distribution be the next big thing? Sound off, Rama readers!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Awesome news. I for one have enjoyed the bit of comics on the iphone I’ve gotten my hands on so far and iverse has done an excellent job. Can’t wait to check this out.
November 21st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
“could simultaneous print and online distribution be the next big thing?”
I think it’s vital (more so for the PC-based Longbox than for phone apps). If a consumer reads about a book online and clicks right through to try and buy it, you don’t want to tell them you’re running ages behind on print. And vice versa–you read a book on your computer, it’s all the easier to go to a message board to discuss it, but not if that message board is several issues ahead of you.